Green IT: dolphin-free computing

Submitted by skeptic on Thu, 2008-09-18 10:16

Puhleeese. Green IT is pure fad. Sitting in an air-con office made from cement and steel and plastics, with the SUV parked outside, banging on about saving a kilowatt is just PC hypocracy.

Do you know what value the business wants?

Submitted by skeptic on Thu, 2008-09-18 09:55

We have been posting cards from the ABC of ICT card deck from GamingWorks to see what the response is, as a sort of informal opinion polling.

Those who responded to the last one were more polarised than the first poll. (Of course that might be becauser this time I didn't provide the weasel-option of "maybe"). Last time we asked what people thought of the statement "Lack of Management Commitment seriously affects project delivery in our organization" and got a resounding Yes. As a devout fan of Dilbert and especially The Dilbert Principle I'm hardly surprised that listless management would be a clear issue.

Let's try another. "IT is unable to specify the Value required by the business". What do you think of that statement in the context of your own organisation (or client)?

HP cuts 24,600 over three years - there's a way to boost morale and customer focus

Submitted by skeptic on Tue, 2008-09-16 22:10

Don't expect laser focus from your HP providers over the next three years, they'll all be wondering if they have a job. 24,600 don't. And that's the official number starting out.

Use SLA response metrics that matter

Submitted by skeptic on Tue, 2008-09-16 20:46

Using indirect KPIs is always a dangerous distorter of behaviour. if you want the SLAs to ensure the appropriate resources are applied and to drive the size and location of teams required and the spare part/hot swap stock size and locations, then write the SLAs so they define the appropriate resources to be applied by priority of incident for that service and define the size and location of teams required and the spare part/hot swap stock size and locations by priority of service. Don't make the behavioural causal chain any longer than it need be - you'll get all sorts of unintended consequences.

Do we have to do ITIL to do Service Management?

Submitted by skeptic on Tue, 2008-09-16 08:48

[Updated 28th February 2009]
Of course not. To look and listen around the IT industry these days one would think so, but there is actually more than one game in town.

Microsoft ups the ante on ITIL by releasing MOF into the public domain

Submitted by skeptic on Tue, 2008-09-16 00:09

Just what sort of pacts has OGC signed with the money engines at TSO and APMG, or is HM still her own master? When will ITIL be set free?

The real significance remains to be seen, but Microsoft's announcement that MOF 4.0 (Microsoft Operating Framework, a MS variant of ITIL) is now available under a Creative Commons licence to not only Share but also Remix(!) puts additional pressure on Castle ITIL's proprietary grip on the ITIL content. The explicit mention of ITIL in the announcement suggests to me this pressure is not accidental. MOF was already freely available for download, as also are COBIT and FITS, but this takes open content ITSM another step.

hey all you nerds in itSM

Submitted by skeptic on Mon, 2008-09-15 19:41

Apparently Don Tennant thinks ITSM is less than fascinating and even has a bit of fun at our expense. The thing that most impressed me about the video was that nobody actually hit him.

COBIT rivals ITIL

Submitted by skeptic on Mon, 2008-09-15 00:04

This post has been podcast

[Updated again: links to COBIT planned content]
Those who say "COBIT is the what and ITIL the how" either haven't read COBIT, are oversimplifying or are being excessively polite to ITIL.

The IRS should be locked up

Submitted by skeptic on Sun, 2008-09-14 09:46

I had heard tales of the USA's Inland Revenue Service but this is the first time I have come to grips with it. I have no doubt that if the IRS were an individual it would be locked up as insane. Look at this: "For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see separate instructions". All you folk who deal with this thing regularly have my deepest sympathy.

Why is Project Management almost invisible in ITIL V3?

Submitted by skeptic on Fri, 2008-09-12 23:44

This post has been podcast

Why is Project Management all but invisible in ITIL V3?

Syndicate content