The IT Skeptic - Comments for "Aidan Lawes on ITIL certification"

the finest ITIL skepticking is by Aiden Lawes

skeptic — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:55:19 +0000

There's no doubt that some of the finest ITIL skepticking around is being written by Aiden Lawes. Check out this latest blog post :

The problems with ITIL, as is true with many other approaches, mainly stem from people. They either willfully or mistakenly cast ITIL into a particular light – sanctifying or demonising it in equal measure because they have an axe to grind, have been misinformed, misunderstand it or are seeking to make money from it.

Why can’t people accept it for what it is - some guidance about how to get a grip on an area that has been contentious and problematical for many years, viz. how do we ensure that investments in IT actually deliver value to the wider enterprise? It is not THE answer to everything, it is not carved in tablets of stone, and it most certainly doesn’t absolve managers from the obligation to perform their management function – to make decisions based upon reliable information from a range of disparate sources, including making choices that may or may not prove to be correct and continually to seek to improve the quality of service provided.

Value of certification

vinodka — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:35:40 +0000

Hi Skeptic and Aiden,

Add the so-called phenomenon of 'recession' on top of all these!

You can see, as the situation Aiden hinted in his blog has evolved, people are not really 'valuing' the certification as much the 'cost' an ATO are offering.
The result - instead of an apple to apple comparison on quality, contents, trainer profiles, references etc among training options - customers has boiled down to comparison on their cost - At least in those markets that you mentioned (like India- where I can provide first hand information).
The decision has (more or less) started to be limited to 'cost' - and the comparison happens among freelancer trainers who could provide the trainings at a 'per-day trainer charges' to Accredited and established ATOs who may not afford to bring the price down beyond a limit.

What Aiden mentioned is absolutely true - in these part of the world (and mind you in volume of trainings and certification this region must be almost at par with Europian countries) - the training prices (based on the value the customers started to assign) has really brought down to a level equal to the certification cost. And the ITIL V3 syllabys (the breadth and shallowness mentioned by Aiden) has not helped to change the valuation at all...
It is slowly becoming (if not already become) just become a basic certification - to be added in the resume.

The lethargic way the market is reacting to the intermediate and higher level certification might be just the indication the authorities need.

Aiden Lawes on ITIL Certification

ITILlustration — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:19:45 +0000

Wail on oh exhalted Skeptic....the cost of certification is well out of reach of most IT professionals. The only hope of getting certified above foundation is if the company one is employed even values the entire process or as I've seen stated here before, is happy to execute the framework on the very basic of educations (and most not at all). Rare that any company unless it is a vendor of such services will spend on education for such a narrow focus program especially in this current world economy.