skeptic's blog

itSMF International launch an online discussion forum.

Submitted by skeptic on Wed, 2007-12-12 08:50

Thanks and congratulations go to itSMF International [wow, it must be Christmas time] for launching an official discussion forum.

ITIL is the hitchhiker's guide, COBIT is the encyclopaedia

Submitted by skeptic on Fri, 2007-12-07 22:16

As the IT Skeptic digs (happily) deeper into COBIT, I ponder the difference between COBIT and ITIL. In my simple layman's mind, ITIL is the hitchhiker's guide, COBIT is the encyclopaedia, rather like the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the Encyclopedia Galactica.

Is ITIL Version 3 "Strategy Generation" a mystery process?

Submitted by skeptic on Tue, 2007-12-04 08:57

Perhaps readers can help out one of your fellows who is stuck on the ITIL Version 3 process "Strategy Generation".

Five reasons ITIL Version 3 is not "Best Practice"

Submitted by skeptic on Thu, 2007-11-29 07:32

Over a year ago, the IT Skeptic argued that ITIL is not best practice. Now Version 3 is upon us, has anything changed?

Great myths of ITIL #1: "You can't manage what you can't measure".

Submitted by skeptic on Sun, 2007-11-25 09:06

"You can't manage what you can't measure". Who on earth came up with that one? One of my big concerns about the application of ITIL is it's emphasis on KPIs. Useful but dangerous.

itSMF publish their list of ITIL Version 3 processes

Submitted by skeptic on Thu, 2007-11-15 08:24

We had some interesting discussion of how many processes there actually are in version 3. OGC are coy about this in the books. Now itSMF has published a free downloadble booklet, and it has a list of ITIL Version3 processes. And what is the itSMF's count of processes?

The role vendors play in the ITIL community

Submitted by skeptic on Sun, 2007-11-11 00:08

I agree with a recent comment about vendors being an essential part of the ITIL community. I have defended their presence and influence before. But we lack the governance to ensure that presence is a healthy one.

Voting for itSMF UK AGM

Submitted by skeptic on Sat, 2007-11-10 15:59

It is not too late to vote at the itSMF UK AGM. The announcement is here and the form is here.

Presumably, following the American model, members are free to vote multiple times [that's a joke, people]. But in the UK the forms are paper based and manually processed. The election is uncontested which makes voting less interesting.

Malcolm Fry swaps sides

Submitted by skeptic on Sat, 2007-11-10 15:01

Malcolm Fry, who has been BMC's ITIL "thought leader" since they acquired Remedy, is billed at the 2008 HDI conference as "Executive Consultant to CA". Seems he's been over to the dark side for a little while. Well well well. I wonder what Beemer think about that.

Good advice for those on the receiving end of the IT Skeptic's comments

Submitted by skeptic on Thu, 2007-11-08 19:26

A recent edition of that fine publication, ComputerWorld New Zealand, offers good advice, from Steve Hodgkinson of Ovum, for those on the receiving end of negative comments in the blogosphere:

respond to the critical comments directly and positively — acknowledging them as valid feedback — and providing either a factual and constructive rebuttal or indicating what the company is doing about addressing the issues raised.

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