Joy and Pain of life with ITSM

Hard vs Soft Core

To compare a “Core” technologist to that of a general technologist will always garner the contempt between various IT fields. My background is in support for example. I love technology and make every attempt to learn about the technology behind the products I have supported. Now, further on in my career as an Incident, Problem [...]

Success or failure is determined in the middle of an organization, not at the top or bottom

In most organizations there are usually three different layers or tiers within a technology organization; Leadership/Upper-management, Middle Management and the Operational layer. Like almost anything with three layers, the outer layers are usually firm and designed to absorb what comes at them from the outside. For leadership/upper-management their role is pretty clear. Deal with the business, budget and branding of technology. On the opposite end of the spectrum you have the day-to-day operational teams. These are the lower echelon of the organization who have developed a clear understanding of their role as well; the Business, Bullets and Bullsh*t.

The Complexity of Problems

Today’s technology environment is complex. The amount of dependencies and integration points are not always as clearly mapped out as they should be. What may appear, from the end user’s perspective as an application level of slowness, may actually be the result of something either in the infrastructure of the network itself or other services consuming bandwith on the network. Being able to track down and clearly identify the source is a daunting task.

Hard vs Soft Core

March 10,2010 Service

To compare a "Core" technologist to that of a general technologist will always garner the contempt between various IT fields. My background is in support for example. I love technology and make every attempt to learn about the technology behind the products I have supported. Now, further on in my career as an Incident, Problem and Crisis Manager, I have to know about all areas of the products and services that IT delivers to the Business, including the likes of Storage, Database, Applica [Read More]

View Comments Tags: Business, Information Technology, Leadership, Management, Politics, Soft Skills, Technologist, Technology

Success or failure is determined in the middle of an organization, not at the top or bottom

March 5,2010 Management

When it comes to barriers in adopting ITIL as a means of managing a technology operation efficiently, it is often said that obtaining buy in from leadership is a "must have" or the "key to success." I want to dive into that for a second with some possibly outlandish observations. In most organizations there are usually three different layers or tiers within a technology organization; Leadership/Upper-management, Middle Management and the Operational layer. Like almost anything with three la [Read More]

View Comments Tags: Business, Education and Training, Information Technology Infrastructure Library, Management, Non-commissioned officer, Organizational Change, Petty Officer, Technology

The Complexity of Problems

March 4,2010 ITIL

According to ITIL, Problem Management seems pretty clear cut; determine what the root cause is and work towards resolving it and removing it as a potential cause for Incidents going forward. This however is not always as clear cut as it may appear. With Problems that are generated from Incidents, you generally have a root cause identified or are given a playing field to begin in once the service has been restored via fixing the known root cause or implementing a work around. The reality is [Read More]

View Comments Tags: Incident Management, Information Technology Infrastructure Library, Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Management, Problem Management, Problem Solving, Project management, Service Desk