Cultural Debt

There has been a lot of talk lately about IT’s accumulation of “technical debt’.  Technical debt describes necessary work from a prior deployment that was deferred in favor of other tasks.   As technical debt grows, the ability to make future changes is hindered because of backlog was not addressed.

I have recently come to recognize that IT suffers from another type of debt – cultural debt.  IT is a young industry that grew rapidly  while facing constant pressure to bring technical innovation to the market. Cultural considerations were deferred  in favor of building and deploying products and services.  IT’s silo culture grew organically out of the need for diversifed sets of specialized experience and expertise.

While cultural debt was accumulating,  IT’s complexities were increasing.  The single platform mainframe vanished in favor of multi-platform servers.   Production applications grew exponentially. The IT supply chain went from a single location department  to a network that spans multiple geographies and organizations. Although IT’s silos were also acknowledged to be  IT’s constraints, converging different processes, frameworks,  vocabularies and customs was not going to be easy.  And so the cultural debt grew.

Like all debts, payment is eventually due.  For IT, the due date is  today. Cultural debt is having a tangible impact on the bottom line by hindering IT’s ability to meet the pace of deployment that the business now requires. Every bottleneck in the workflow between Dev and Ops affects the entire system of supply and demand.  The business has zero tolerance for missed deadlines, poor quality code or fragile applications.   A paradigm shift is required in order to improve IT’s consistency and speed.

The good news is that an increasing number of individuals and organizations are looking to pay down cultural debt by embracing a DevOps approach. Case studies are emerging that demonstrate proof of concept - silos are breaking down and people are talking to each other. Tools are enabling automated tasks and deployments are happening faster with fewer defects.  Dev and Ops are starting to embrace a common set of practices and accountabilities.  Best of all, DevOps is stemming the rate of future technical and cultural debt  - and that’s a win for everyone.

Scrum Gets Things Done

Scrum is the most prominent of the Agile frameworks.  In many instances its concepts and vocabulary have become synonymous with Agile.  Why?  Because the Scrum framework brings to life all of the values and principles promoted by the Agile Manifesto.

What is Scrum?  I particularly like this description from Scrum.org:

Scrum is a simple framework for effective team collaboration on complex projects.  Scrum provides a small set of rules that create just enough structure for teams to be able to focus their innovation on solving what might otherwise be an insurmountable challenge.

Scrum is often mistaken for a method just for building products. Nothing could be further from the truth – it is a methodology whose primary objective is to get things done – first by defining “done” and then by steadily progressing the forward through short increments known as “sprints”.   Each sprint burnsdown a backlog of work until the entire project is "done".   

Other beneficial aspects of Scrum include:

•       Good planning and review

•       Agreed user stories

•       Small self-organizing teams

•       Improved communication (daily standup)

•       Better workflows and fewer bottlenecks

•       Reduced work in progress

•       Improved responsiveness

•       Measurable accomplishments

•       Shorter feedback loops

Scrum is deceptively simple, yet difficult to master.   Is Scrum the only Agile framework?  No.   The use of Kanban is also rapidly growing – giving rise to another emerging framework called Scrumban.    Stay tuned to future blogs for more on this.

I strongly believe that everyone in IT should learn about Scrum.   Let’s get things done!

The New Jayne Explains - Let's Talk About Agile, Agile SM, Lean and DevOps

For several years  now, I have been blogging about updates in the ITSM industry.   “That’s interesting, Jayne” some of my followers have recently said “But what we really want to know is what the next generation of IT and ITSM will or should look like.”   OK - I may have an opinion or two about that.

It’s taken a while, but the trends are becoming clearer.   Individuals and organizations are starting to  look at complementary frameworks, methods and movements such as DevOps, Agile, Lean, Agile Service Management® and others in order to take their IT and ITSM efforts to the next level. 

What does that mean?  Are ITSM processes no longer going to be relevant?  Of course not.  It means that we will have to  build on what we have already accomplished by doing it faster.   It means we will have to break down some pretty significant silos.  It means we will have to integrate the best of Dev and Ops’ processes, practices and vocabularies into a universal system that spans the entire IT supply chain.  It means we will have to actively reduce bottlenecks, waste and work in progress.  It means we will have to accept automation as a member of our teams.  It means that ITSM processes will have to be more agile, more lean, more “modern”.    It means we have to learn and share and assimilate all good ideas into a custom framework that specifically fits the needs of your business.  A little scary?  Perhaps.  Exciting? Definitely.

Let’s embark on this new knowledge journey together.  Some of the frameworks, methods and movements mentioned do not (yet) have definitive bodies of knowledge but good practices are starting to emerge.  I will now use Jayne Explains to share my observations, insights as well as bits and pieces about what I learn along the way.    Hopefully we can also use this blog as a forum to engage interesting discussions and help shape the future of IT learning.  ITSM Academy’s  introductory DevOps Overview course is already available with more detailed DevOps Fundamentals and Agile Service Management courses on the way.  Stay tuned.   

The future is here - welcome to NextGen ITSM®

What Does it Mean to "Be Agile"?

It seems like the term “agile” is surfacing everywhere lately.  While originally intended for software developers, the term has permeated our IT culture and become part of our vocabulary.   While the word is commonly used, do we also have a common understanding of what it means to “be agile”?  Particularly in the context of service management?

Agile is primarily a state of mind that is reflected in a set of core values and principles.  By itself, it is not a framework, standard, set of practices or methodology.  It is more of a perspective than a prescription.  Agile values are embedded  into and brought to life through approaches such as Scrum, Kanban, DevOps and Xtreme Programming.  The concepts reach way beyond software development.  Agile is now recognized to be equally relevant to other domains such as service management or business process management.

At the heart of Agile is the Agile Manifesto – the output of a set of frustrated developers in 2001 whose collective goal was to refocus their community to what really matters.    

The Agile Manifesto is supported by a set of twelve principles that further elaborate on the core values.  The Manifesto and its principles can be viewed here.

At first glance, the Agile Manifesto may seem to diminish or obsolete everything we have taught and worked so hard to achieve in service management.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The authors acknowledge that they do value the items on the right, they just value the items on the left more.  Don’t we also? 

In order to “be agile”, we may have to refocus our community too.  Refocus it to be more business-centric than it-centric.  To refuse to prize flowcharts, documentation, tools and plans over successful business outcomes.  To collaborate with our customers and ensure that we understand and are delivering ongoing value.  

Mostly, we need to do JUST ENOUGH of the items on the right to deliver the items on the left consistently.   Agile doesn't negate what we do and teach in service management, it actually lightens our load and allows us to be true business enablers.  Awesome!

What would an Agile Service Management Manifesto look like?  Here is my vision:

This is certainly not perfect. I hope it is a starting point that opens a forum for healthy discussion and collaboration.   Let's do what the developers did - agree on a set of core principles that focus on what really matters.   

ITSM Academy recognizes that being agile is and will be an important aspect of the next generation of rapid innovation.  We have created a line of training for Agile Service Management  and are introducing new Agile and DevOps courses that marry agile values and frameworks to service management practices.   We are already actively delivering Certified ScrumMaster,  Certified Process Design Engineer (CPDE) and DevOps Overview.  Coming soon:  DevOps Fundamentals  and Agile Service Management: Essentials.  Stay tuned!

Ten Years Later

This week, ITSM Academy will celebrate its tenth anniversary.    Our whole team will be in Fort Lauderdale at our annual “all hands” meeting. We will use this time to draw on each other’s energies, ideas and capabilities to review the past, assess the present and prepare for the future to ensure that we continue to deliver value to our customers and to each other.

Ten years ago, many organizations were unfamiliar with ITIL or service management.  Awareness was slow and mostly at the large enterprise level.    There was not a lot of ITIL education available in the US.  The primary areas of focus were Incident and Change Management. Lisa and I helped found the 9^th itSMF USA Local Interest Group in South Florida. 

Things have certainly changed.  Here are a few of my observations:

• ITIL is no longer just for the Fortune 1000 organization.  The need for service management programs and practices has transcended every vertical market including government, non-profit, global and local organizations.  This is a very positive indicator about scalability and the fact that you do not need a million dollar budget to manage your services.
• Service Management is shifting the focus from apps to services.  The definition of “service” is still not as business-centric as it should be but we are closer than ever before.  Service Catalogs are more common and are being used to request and understand services by both the business and IT.
• Service Management programs are maturing and moving beyond Incident and Change Management.  Today’s roadmaps include processes such as Problem Management, Demand/Capacity Management and Service Portfolio/Service Catalog/Service Level Management.
• More organizations are interested in implementing Service Management Offices (SMOs).
• While ITIL is a great service management framework, it is not perfect and cannot stand alone.  More and more organizations are integrating their service management practices with frameworks such as Agile, Lean, DevOps, Project Management and Cobit.
• Interest in organizational change concepts is increasing.  Change the way people think and you are more likely to change the way they behave.
• Mobile computing, the cloud, BYOD and other influences are forcing IT to move faster and be more efficient.   Traditional service management will need to upgrade to Agile Service Management and leverage methodologies such as Scrum to improve velocity and workflow.
• DevOps is revolutionizing the relationship and flow between IT development and operational teams. Organizations will have to assess and improve culture, automation, measurements and sharing (CAMs) in order to compete.
• The future is now.

Technical innovations over the past ten years have been remarkable – from desktops to laptops to smartphones, tablets and beyond.   The next ten years will be an even wilder ride.  We are getting ready - are you?

ITSM Academy's 2014 DevOps and ITSM Scrum Master Courses

Can you believe that 2013 is rapidly coming to a close?  I can’t.  In two weeks, we will give thanks for all of our blessings then move quickly onto Christmas and a New Year.  Wow! 

I am very excited about 2014 – it promises to be a year of transformation.   Business and technology innovations are transforming the way we live, think, share and envision the future.  IT professionals will have to keep up or be left behind.   Service management will be more relevant than ever, but how it is applied and which services it supports may be the difference between value creation and obsolescence.

To meet these changing needs, I am thrilled to introduce ITSM Academy’s  2014 lineup of Agile Service ManagementÒ  courses, including 

• DevOps Overview– a half-day high level introduction to the cultural phenomenon that is rocking the IT world and delivering real value by enabling organizations to build, deploy and operate quality software faster
  
• DevOps Principles – a two day experiential course that takes a deeper look at DevOps including its relationship to ITIL and ITSM.  This will also be a great opportunity to learn more about the “three ways” of DevOps that is detailed in our buddy Gene Kim’s bestseller “The Phoenix Project”
• ITSM Scrum Master ^TM– a two day hands-on opportunity to learn about Scrum processes from a service management perspective.  Attendees will experience practical ways to apply the same techniques used by software developers in order to develop and manage quality processes and services that meet customer needs

We are proud to be the first ITSM training provider to bring this important knowledge to you.  ITSM Academy has been involved in the Agile/DevOps community for some time and we have witnessed the steady paradigm shift from traditional IT to Agile IT.  We started down the Agile Service ManagementÒ  path several years ago with the Certified Process Design Engineer (CPDE) and VisOps courses.  The addition of education about DevOps and Scrum injects the much needed human factor - modifying the way people think, behave, interact and work together.

The first virtual delivery of the DevOps overview will be January 24, followed by releases of the other course throughout Q1 2014.  Keep an eye on our website for further developments or email info@itsmacademy.com with questions or requests for more information.   I hope that you will take the opportunity to explore these concepts with us and experience the 2014 Year of Transformation! 

Top Ten Take Home from Fusion 13

Just got back from Fusion 13 in Nashville.  It was a good time seeing old friends, making new friends and basking in the service management glow.  Learned a lot, shared a lot, laughed a lot.

Our team collected their Top Ten Take Homes from the conference which have been collected into a slide deck.  Lisa and Donna even made some videos.

To learn more about our Top 10, please visit Lisa's "LisaLand" blog at http://mylisaland.com/2013/10/30/fusion-13-top-10-take-homes/.