culture

People first in ITSM

skeptic — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:53:30 -0600

People first, in priority and in order.

Getting IT development to support production - a people problem

skeptic — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:29:02 -0700

A LinkedIn discussion which I have now lost (LinkedIn having one of the worst search capabilities on the planet) asked about how to get Development to provide Level 3 support to Production incidents. It's a people problem.

Binder-chuckers

skeptic — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:01:51 -0700

The problem with too many ITSM consultants is that they are binder-chuckers. ITSM consulting is not about inventing a process. It is about enacting cultural change.

Executive support and rabbit stew

skeptic — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:51:12 -0600

When IT advice is being handed out, by frameworks and books or by the chattering internet, there is much talk about the importance of having "executive support". It is tossed about in lots of contexts that involve cultural change or process improvement - my own one just happens to be ITSM: ITIL V3 etc. This is one of the most repeated glib statements in the IT world. What if you don't?

Some IT is about someone else's money. Some IT is about keeping people alive. It's different.

skeptic — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:13:04 -0600

Sometimes IT really matters. It feels different.

IT professionalism

skeptic — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:24:32 -0600

Worldwide there is an overall IT professional accreditation spreading, in the UK (CITP), Europe, the USA, Australia and other places. Not before time.
For too long IT managers have accepted poor documentation, subverted change control and general ill-discipline from IT technical staff simply because they held the sacred knowledge about the technology under their care.
The understanding is emerging that the long-term health of IT depends more on professional behaviour: good process, good data, good record-keeping… a good culture amongst the staff. There is less patience with the prima-donnas and the cowboys.

Change the People

skeptic — Sat, 23 May 2009 02:38:41 -0600

Here's a great post “It’s The People Stupid”. I almost agree with it, but I think the writer talks around the most important point: “Change The People Stupid”.

Why do we waste money training people in ITIL? Just More Crap

skeptic — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:14:25 -0600

It greatly concerns me the huge numbers of people being sent on ITIL Foundation training. Given the cost of ITIL certification, I suggest companies who send staff on theoretical ITIL training - other than the small number actually involved in designing the transformation - are wasting their money. The real target group for that theoretical training are the specialists and consutants. My recommendations are:

Community, Activity, Environment

skeptic — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:59:58 -0700

My original article Community, Activity, Environment is no longer available at the original website so I am reposting it here.
The IT industry does not have a good track record for introducing new things. Projects fail, products don’t fit, results are unexpected, users are unhappy. “People Process Technology” is a useful model to help us do better, but it gets ignored more often than it gets applied. The IT Skeptic suggests redefining it to new terms will improve its acceptance. If we apply it more, we should have less IT failures.

People, Practices, Things

skeptic — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:59:18 -0700

My original article People, Practices, Things is no longer available online on the original website. It is reproduced here. I later proposed an alternate model of Community, Activity, Environment.