I've gone and done it. I've joined the dark side.
And I couldn't be happier.
This week marks my final week as a pure ITSM practitioner. After 12 years, I'm leaving an organization I love to join one I admire, in a job I can't wait to start doing. I start my new life as an ITSM consultant on February 11. I can't tell you the new company's name, but it rhymes with Nervous Pow.
I anticipate continuing this blog, and continuing to speak for the real world of practitioners. The ITSM community remains far too theoretical, with a lack of clear purpose. We have a lot of great thinkers out there that do excellent and necessary work; AND we need more people willing to share their practical, everyday ideas.
There are several areas where I think we can, and should, be more proactive in helping practitioners navigate the real-world issues they encounter.
- What questions should I start asking, and to whom, to help determine where my company should start our service management initiative?
- Give me some examples of how companies have started their journey, and why they chose that route.
- When all the analysts and consultants talk about "value", what should I be sharing with my IT colleagues and business partners so we understand what that means?
- What does a real service catalog look like? Don't just explain that a catalog should include services "in business terms". That's not helpful. Give actual examples of how companies have defined their services.
- Examples, examples, examples, and more examples. We know that one organization's workflow won't be best for all organizations. But most of us are smart enough to look at a few examples of what others have done, and figure out how to change those examples to best fit our organizations.
We have way too much "Don't give away the milk for free" thinking in ITSM consulting. As in, "Why should I buy the cow when I can get the milk for free?", meaning I shouldn't share details or examples in social forums or blogs, because then no one will want to buy my services. Seriously? Is the extent of your value so shallow that reading 3-4 of your ideas online will tap out your good stuff? Patrick Lencioni's book Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding The ThreeFears That Sabotage Client Loyalty, offers great practical advice. Instead of selling consulting, why not just start consulting to demonstrate why the client can't live without you? Social media outlets let us "just start consulting" to audiences far broader than we could reach on our own.
We're here to enable positive outcomes for businesses. Helping practitioners make their services better is what this is all about. Don't ever lose that perspective.
