Six Sigma vrs Lean Thinking
Occasionally I encounter confusion between Lean, Six Sigma, and what Lean-Six Sigma means. More often than not they are presented as competing methods. Well I’ll admit my bias in that I believe Lean is the grandfather of Six Sigma, and that although Lean is by far the simpler to use, it is no less effective, trading common sense and a pen and paper for the statistical process control and rigor of Six Sigma. Read more »
Lean Consumption and Lean Provision
Lean Thinking and its application to the challenges of IT organizations is too often misused, misunderstood, or misrepresented. At the core of the latest thinking are the critical concepts of lean consumption and lean provision, representing the customer and service provider views, respectively.
Process Improvement is Irrelevant Unless…
Process improvement is irrelevant unless it can be shown to directly and beneficially affect either the manner in which customers achieve their desired results through using a service, or lower the cost of providing the service…
A problem ticket does not commit you to take action
The recording of a problem ticket does not commit the organization to take action. A problem can be recorded on the suspicion of anything that may or is likely impacting a stakeholder. The first step is to make the case for action – to conduct an investigation by linking the problem to evidence and stating impact.
We have forgotten our roots…
For years I have taught to a simple ‘value equation’ and its a major eyecatcher in the USMBOK publication for many – “Value = Results / Cost “. Now thats the dumbed down version but, add its buddy the expectation equation “Expectation = Requirement versus Capability” and we have the core of what service management SHOULD all be about – establishing and instrumenting these two equations.
Problem Managers need crystal balls….
The problem manager sits all day in their tent surrounded by tarot cards, crystal balls and incident reports. They scour dashboards looking for potential problems. When they encounter an actual problem happening its a small defeat as they believe its their duty to predict and avoid or mitigate these events. Consequently, a problem record can be opened at any time for any reason by the problem manager.
The Management Imperatives
The project manager closed the two-hour meeting designed to brief the management steering committee responsible for funding the service management initiative with a call for support for the next stage. Pointing to the high quality wall charts surrounding the audience, the manager concluded, “After six months we now have a clear and detailed description of the ten key process areas we need to implement, and where we plan to begin.” Read more »
The Tinkerbell Effect
As many of you might recall, Tinkerbell is the fairy in the play Peter Pan, who is revived from near death by the belief of the audience in fairies. As Tinkerbell lies dying from drinking Peter’s poisoned medicine, she tells Peter she could live, but only if everyone who believes in fairies claps their hands, really, really hard. Read more »
Ethel’s Fax
Over the years I have compiled a library of stories I use to help explain problems, concepts and methods to fellow service management professionals. Recently, I was encouraged to share my story about ‘Ethel and her fax’. I use this story to illustrate the challenges an IT organization faces when they take their configuration management ambitions out into the real world of business operations. As they say in the movies, the names of the company and those involved have been changed to protect both the innocent, and the guilty. Read more »
My Service Management Professional ‘Bucket List’
The recent announcements of even more badges of honor in the form of the ‘ITIL® Master’ and ‘professional recognition for it Service Management (priSM)’ is giving me pause for thought. It now seems that after all my efforts, I have yet another rung in the professionalism ladder to climb, and at my age it’s not getting any easier. Read more »
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