The Skeptical Informer, April 2007, Volume 1, No. 3

This has been a quiet month for the IT Skeptic website, but not for the IT Skeptic.

The Raroa Coding Gnome (another alter-ego) has been busy developing our new OReckon project that will be piloted on the IT Skeptic website before too long. Add to that a family crisis and a week in the mountains with my son and the month is suddenly behind us without an awful lot on the blog.

The greatest excitement of the month was a set of allegations about the itSMF posted as comments by one Dr. Julie Linden. Don't rush off to look at them: much as I love a little scuttlebutt I had to edit them out - they were frankly libelous and (so far) totally unsubstantiated.

I don't remove stuff willingly (except spam and blatant commercials, which are ruthlessly expunged). I'm not happy about taking the allegations down. If and when there is evidence substantial enough to take on the most powerful, wealthy and litigous organisations in ITSM, the IT Skeptic will be first to daylight it (if Julie forgives me).

The other defining characteristic of the month for me was continuing frustration at OGC's and APMG's failure to act in the ongoing fiasco which is the ITIL certification industry right now. Nothing has changed since my tirade in last month's newsletter, which shows how much the ITIL establishment notices my few rocks tossed at the castle walls. It is terrible the way the training industry powers ahead in full gear, churning out ITIL Version 2 certifications without any direction as to whether they should be, under what terms, and just what the results are worth.

Next month I have the local itSMF national conference and I'll be presenting at the bITa USA Conference in Boston. We will also be on the home run to Refresh Day, May 31st. And Dr. Linden just may come up with something sensational. So I look forward to a more active and exciting month coming for the IT Skeptic website.

I guess after last month's monster edition of the Skeptical Informer, it is nice to have a briefer one for April. For those who feel short-changed, please forgive me. This is what lured me into neglecting you all:

(There is a pattern here: in January my son and I went camping in LOTR's Rivendell. This month we went to our hut which is near another LOTR set).

So sit back, relax and enjoy a low-key Skeptical informer for April, with a promise of more exciting times to come.

Editor's note: if you are new to the Skeptical Informer, the quirky nature pictures are in support of ITIL Version 3's nature-themed graphic designs