Impacts of Not Doing Service Management Correctly

/in /by

I have been posting about how we’ve misplaced Service Management and pushed it down to SLA enforcement.

I have also frequently posted about how we need to begin seeing Service Management from the consumer’s perspective.

Oddly, these are the same issue:

We have failed to “implement” Service Management correctly and have instead focused on IT metrics and measures, including those to keep external partners in check, all while forgetting that we should be focused on providing services consumers and customers see as valuable, including metrics to measure how well we’re doing.

Ever since ITILV3 came out in 2008, the goal of Service Management has been to offer “Value” as determined by the consumers.

Service Management has not changed.

We have.

No wonder business leaders are unhappy with their IT groups.

The time is now to start doing things correctly.

Example of Poor Experience Management

/in /by

There are many non-IT examples of Experience Management I love to use to illustrate concepts.

One such is the issue of the walk to baggage claim in the Houston Airport. See link below.

The airport was getting a lot of complaints saying they had to wait too long for their baggage.

Instead of addressing the underlying issue (Experience), the airport re-routed foot traffic the MUCH LONGER way so that the bags would arrive soon after the passengers (bag owners) arrived.

Complaints plummeted.

Which this may be a good short-term way of looking at the problem, how do you think the passengers feel now after the cat is out of the proverbial bag?

Did the airport properly address the Experience problem?

Iterative Approach

/in /by

One of the themes central to Service Management, Agile, Lean, and many more is an iterative approach.

When we think of our personal lives, we need to take the same thought process. We will not immediately get better at anything.

For example, if you need to lose weight for a special day, you skip a meal or two. When you “need” to lose weight, you introduce structure to help you eat better and exercise.

When you want long-term improvement, you put a structure in place to iteratively improve. Even though you may not see immediate results, it is ok since you are committed for the long term.

This brings me back to the Warren Buffett quote of why he got into finance. He said it was after he understood the concept of compound interest.

This same compounding works in all areas of life.

Effective Change Management

/in /by

Of the Service Management processes/practices, Change Management/Enablement is usually guilty of being the most bureaucratic.

The rules and order are necessary to reduce risk.

However, there are ways to follow the stated process and still deliver better outcomes.

Let’s face it, even with the heavy reliance on rules and compliance, we still do a relatively poor job at Change success rate. We should be above 98%, but most companies and organizations are well below that. This results I’m a lot of money lost and wasted.

The answer is to:
1. Understand how the consumers and stakeholders consume your process and improve their Experience
2. Execute the process