The IT Skeptic - best practice

Lean IT and ITIL

skeptic — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:11:40 +0000

One sees a few remarks in the webisphere that suggest folk don't get the relationship between Lean IT and ITIL (thanks to my friend Bob Grinsell, RIPOFF #1, for reminding me of this issue by his comment on the itSMF USA forum). Lean is a method. ITIL is a framework. These are different things for different purposes.

Good practice and best practice

skeptic — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:50:57 +0000

ITIL V3 did a little word dance around what "good practice" and "best practice" mean which had more to do with political semantics and digging themselves out of a hole than it did about what the terms really mean. It ought to be straightforward:

Create a variance register for ITIL and other frameworks

skeptic — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:16:25 +0000

Perhaps I missed it but I've never seen this idea described before: all sites should have a register of variances from best/generally-accepted/good practice frameworks such as ITIL.

When Best is Too Good - Copper Instead of Gold - focused excellence as a differentiator

skeptic — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:27:04 +0000

A leading cultural assumption in the business world is that anything we do should be benchmarked against world’s best practice. But why pay for gold when copper will do? Don’t aim for best when there is no business driver to do so. Organisations are wasting resource and damaging themselves unnecessarily chasing a “best” standard for everything. A concept that deserves more attention is “core practice”: the minimum needed to get the job done within acceptable risk. Save “best” for focused areas where it counts.

ITIL V3 has a bet each way: proven guidance and bleeding edge thought-leadership, but how to tell?

skeptic — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:12:44 +0000

Every so often discussion on this blog touches on something fundamental. Lately we've been examining how ITIL seems to have a bet each way: it wants to be proven and bleeding edge at the same time. This is dangerous for the very people ITIL is supposed to serve.

Five reasons ITIL Version 3 is not "Best Practice"

skeptic — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:32:14 +0000

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

IT ops can learn from Lean - The IT Skeptic

skeptic — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 09:20:33 +0000

3:43 minutes (3.41 MB)

Keep an eye on Lean. It is the next big thing (fad or real change?). I always watch what is coming across from manufacturing to IT because - in the service management area at least - that is the trend: manufacturing teaches us.

IT operations can learn from lean manufacturing

skeptic — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:05:48 +0000

This article has been podcast
Keep an eye on Lean. It is the next big thing (fad or real change?). I always watch what is coming across from manufacturing to IT because - in the service management area at least - that is the trend: manufacturing teaches us.

Is ITIL Best Practice?

skeptic — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 10:13:51 +0000

“Best” is a brave word. “Best” leads with the chin.

The following is reprinted with permission. [Update: This post dates from when the IT Skeptic was anonymous. The IT Skeptic asked Rob England for permission to reprint the article and Rob kindly agreed. Since they are both me, the conversation was held in my head.]

Why chase Best Practice?

skeptic — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 11:11:43 +0000

I worked with a number of clients in a previous vendor life who were struggling to “do ITIL” because they felt (or had been told) they had to. There was little or no funding, often no project. And why?