The IT Skeptic - Comments for "Why Free ITIL?"

Stuck with ITIL

skeptic — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:26:00 +0000

It will not be a level playing field for a long time, if ever. Get real. A million people are not going to walk away from their certifications. Tens of thousands of CIOs, analysts and consultants are not going to back-pedal on their decisions and recommendations. The momentum of ITIL is massive. It just might crumble away like snow when rained on by something new like Cloud. Or it might not. But none of us as individuals are going to have that effect. itSMF's job is to reflect member requirements as much as to influence them so it is not going to U-turn overnight either.

I think the Pink conference offers a non-partisan environment for considering all the options, but even there most of the attendees aren't interested in the angels-on-pins debates that we ITSM philosophers have. They see the pragmatic reality of ITIL and just want to get on with the job.

ITIL needs to change. it needs to respond to the demands of the environment such as Agile and Cloud. it will change much more quickly if ITSM experts are free to synthsise it with other knowledge to propose new variants, and those variants compete, and their content is free to be reabsorbed back into ITIL. I don't think any of those variants would ever topple ITIL - it has the brand (MOF hasn't managed it yet). But they would thrive in niches and they would grow ITIL.

In fact setting ITIL free would have the opposite effect to toppling ITIL - it would further expand ITIL's adoption. There would be more consulting, more training, more books, more competition... If that expanding ITIL is also a more adaptive responsive ITIL then I see that as a good thing.

ITIL - Fair Tax

ianclayton — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:12:29 +0000

Warning - rant on.

Why free ITIL? What next? This all reads like a socialist pitch. Yes it was likely developed by government staff using tax dollars, but then roads were built that way and there is still a road tax. I have said for years ITIL is a tax on IT and is there because the industry didn't bother to pose an alternate.

OGC built something based upon existing information. They created a unique set of books that added value and polarized parts of the IT industry. Its a valuable contribution to applying service management principles to the challenges of running an IT organization as a service provider.

If you have become snookered because all you know is ITIL... your value is waving an ITIL certificate around - you don't know how to differentiate yourself in an ITIL dominated world - write an ITIL book.

Why not just let OGC own it and have an honest conversation about its strengths and weaknesses based upon an industry understanding of what is needed out of an ITSM blueprint? Free ITIL by letting it sink or swim in a level playing field.

We are all victims of allowing ITIL to become THE 'de facto standard'. We let the itSMF push and push it. We let conference tracks be dominated by it. Then we discover that when the economic hammer comes down - its short on actual results. Vendors and evangelists abandon it.. the customer is left with the boat anchor of a project.

Serves us right. Now ruddy well grow up and act like a professional and work as a unit, as an industry to define what we need and then either buy, borrow, or build it. Include ITIL. Include other frameworks, study and comment on MOF, IBM-PRM-IT, e-SCM, AisL, BisL, and may I add USMBOK. There are other great elements out there in the business and customer experience universes. Where is this thurst in our industry - deafening silence goes here..... chirrup chirrup...

Where oh where is the event where we can have an open and honest discussion about what we need and what works - without some evangelist or vendor getting out of their comfort zone and pram.

Rant off.

FREE ITIL is Good for Continuous Service Improvement

ITIL Manager — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:35:00 +0000

Count the ITIL Manager in. Here's my 2 cents worth.....

http://itil-manager.blogspot.com/2011/02/free-itil-movement-continuous-s...