The IT Skeptic - Comments for "ISO/IEC 20000 as a mandatory requirement"

no lack of awareness

skeptic — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:49:00 +0000

I don't think there's any lack of awareness . I'll raise it with the committee Chapter officer (the newsletter editor is a non-committee role right now)

A suggestion for the CLC

Michael Imhoff Nielsen — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:23:24 +0000

Maybe a topic for the CLC in Barcelona in October. Will you or itSMF NZ submit it and will you be there Rob? It would be interesting to discuss this with a broader audience and make it operational.

the same local services

skeptic — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:28:01 +0000

it's not on the wishlist of ISACA either. ISACA provides roughly the same local services to me as does itSMF: monthly meetings and an annual conference. But the local chapter doesn't have to run a huge overhead of infrastructure and comms. Every chapter of iTSMF has their own webmaster, website, hosting service! Their own membership reminders, database, billing... Their own branding even. It's nuts.

Local or global.

Michael Imhoff Nielsen — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:48:03 +0000

That's exactly my point. Which works the better? Communication coming from local chapters of itSMF or ISACA or from their global mother organisation. In my opinion it's the first that brings value to me from both organisations. Adapted to what's relevant for my area. Which brings me back to the question who is itSMFI for? In my opinion primarily for the local chapters. Would it bring any benefit for the members of the local chapters to create an organisation like ISACA? I'm not sure, frankly I'm quite sceptic.

Regarding commercialism I don't think that’s on the wish list of all but a few local chapters of itSMF.

a central member database

skeptic — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 10:25:00 +0000

NZ has an excellent local chapter organisation and a great guy doing the newsletter*. I hear that's not the case everywhere.

How long has itSMF had an international organisation?
Would not a central member database be a top priority instead of making every chapter build and administer their own?
Did the initial reluctance to have a centralised organisation have anything to do with the petty politics of a huge rich country not wanting to cede control to the Poms? and perhaps some European flatlanders likewise?

ISACA commercial? Good lord! The only reason itSMF is not vastly more commercial is that when OGC were handing out the crown jewels itSMF was in such disarray even OGC wouldn't trust them. ITIL revenues must exceed COBIT revenues by about two orders of magnitude. ISACA isn't more commercial. They just have their excrement united, as the colloquial expression has it.

* That's me, for the three readers who don't already know

Spam mails.

Michael Imhoff Nielsen — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 09:24:42 +0000

I'm also receiving the spam from ISACA Rob. Not sure if that's much better.

That been said I'm sure communications can be improved within itSMF. Just notice that itSMF started up as independent local chapters and at one point in time International was formed.

Another thing to notice is that ISACA is a much older organisation and a much more commercial organisation. itSMF is as good as its members make it. I don't know the status of itSMF NZ, but my impression is that it's a quite well functioning local chapter. Who is doing the local newsletter? ;-)

itSMF communications suck

skeptic — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:46:33 +0000

Michael, I am a member of ISACA and ACM as well as itSMF. Both other organisations have a central single register of membership with a single email communications system. Both have international email newsletters and printed magazines. iTSMF emails to local chapters are entirely informal - passing them on to all members is inconsistent between chapters. Equally informal is whether itSMFI chooses to communicate with members or not. itSMF communications suck.

itSMFI communication

Michael Imhoff Nielsen — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 07:04:52 +0000

Who are the members of itSMF International? I think it's the local chapters all over the world, not individuals. Communication to those chapters is done via the leadership teams and via the sub committee representatives (IPESC, IQC and iDaSC).

One good example of is the survey on the future of ITIL V2 exams (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=15vE6KepVQshwnVIg5tfsg_3d_3d). It has been sent to all local chapters leadership teams and to all IQC representatives. In case you didn't hear of this I suggest you contact your local chapter.

Another informal communication vehicle is the itSMFI Forum open to all itSMF members.

ISO20000

Miles N — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:43:32 +0000

Yes, but only from contracts in the UK. The rest of the world has no inkling - lets be thankful for that!

ISO/IEC 20000

Claire Agutter — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:57:56 +0000

Hi Skep

This is becoming common on large government contracts here in the UK - an example being the huge IT programme replacing IT systems in our health service.

This includes some high profile suppliers and it was mandated that they should have, or be working towards, ISO20000 accreditation.

Claire