SESSION 802 Wednesday, November 4, 10:15am - 11:15am

Track: Continual Service Improvement

Minimum Viable ITSM

Donna Knapp Curriculum Development Manager, ITSM Academy dknapp@itsmacademy.com

Session Description

Lets face it: ITSM processes have a bad reputation (bloated and bureaucratic) and can be a constraint in the IT value streamparticularly in organizations adopting Agile and DevOps practices. This session describes how to ensure your ITSM processes provide just enough control to ensure compliance without impeding optimum flow, presenting key ITSM processes and specific techniques that can be used to streamline and increase the scalability of existing processes. (Experience Level: Intermediate)

Speaker Background Donna Knapp has more than twenty-five years of IT industry experience as a practitioner, consultant, and trainer. She holds many certifications, including ITIL Expert, Certified Process Design Engineer, Certified Agile Service Manager, Certified Scrum Master, DevOps Foundation, and KCS Principles. Donna is the author of A Guide to Customer Service Skills for Service Desk Professionals (2014), A Guide to Service Desk Concepts (2013), and The ITSM Process Design Guide (2010).

Minimum Viable IT Service Management

Donna Knapp@ITSM_DonnaSession 802

About ITSM Academy NextGen ITSM Education:

Certified Process Design Engineer (CPDE)

ITIL® Foundation

ITIL Capability (OSA|PPO|RCV|SOA)

ITIL Lifecycle (SS|SD|ST|SO|CSI)

ITIL Managing Across the Lifecycle (MALC)

ISO/IEC 20000 Foundation Bridge

DevOps Foundation

Certified Agile Service Manager (CASM)

Certified Agile Process Owner (CAPO)

ITIL/ISO and DevOps Overviews

Interactive Sessions Building Blocks, Roles, Service Catalog, etc.

Apollo 13, Visible Ops: The Class

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Donna Knapp• Author

– The ITSM Process Design Guide– Service Desk Concepts, 4th Edition– Customer Service Skills for Service Desk Professionals, 4th Edition

• Curriculum Development Manager• Certified Process Design Engineer• ITIL® Expert/ITIL Examination Panel• DevOps Foundation certified• Certified Scrum Master• Certified Agile Process Owner• Certified Agile Service Manager• Certified Agile Process Owner• Certified ISO/IEC 2000 Consultant/Manager• Certified in Knowledge‐Centered Support (KCS) Principles  

Agenda

• Process pitfalls• Why things need to change

• Achieving minimum viable IT Service Management (ITSM) 

Where we sometimes go astray…• Rigidly applying (vs. adapting) frameworks, methodologies 

and standards• Adopting some practices while ignoring (rather than 

adapting) others • Allowing conflicting priorities to get in the way of getting 

things done• Requiring unnecessary handoffs and approvals • Failing to build in – or ignoring – customer feedback loops• Forgetting the ‘why’ (vs. the what and the how)• Failing to establish dedicated process improvement teams• Failing to ensure every process has the right Process Owner

Every process is perfectly designed to get the outcome it gets. If you 

don’t have a well‐designed process, it should not be a surprise that your 

customers are dissatisfied.

Why Things Need to Change

Wait…What???• “We value people and interactions over processes and tools”

The Agile Manifesto• “The more you hardwire a company on total quality management, [the more] it is going to hurt breakthrough innovation. The mindset that is needed, the capabilities that are needed, the metrics that are needed, the whole culture that is needed for discontinuous innovation, are fundamentally different.”

Vijay Govindarajan 

Why ITSM Processes Need to be Agile 

The need to • Reduce cycle times • Speed up experimentation and learning • Respond quickly to feedback and changing customer requirements 

• Expand value streams to include customers, suppliers and partners

• Support knowledge workers• Improve communication and collaboration• Automate workflow

A myriad of factors are prompting IT organizations to streamline and, in some cases, completely reengineer their ITSM processes.

Why Now?

“An integral component of the agile [software development] methodologies is the concept of 

"continuous delivery." This [continuous stream of new and modified software into the operational environment] demands significant changes in working practices for both … the infrastructure and operations teams.”

Gartner

Organizations that have implemented DevOps practices were up to five times more likely to be high performing.

The DevOps Effect

• Organizations are more agile– Code is shipped 30 times faster– Deployments are completed 200 times faster

• Services are more reliable– There are 57% fewer failures– Service is restored 168 times faster

Source: 2015 State of DevOps Report

DevOps is a cultural and professional movement that stresses communication, collaboration and integration between software

developers and IT operations professionals.

Achieving Minimum Viable ITSM

Characteristics of an Agile Process• Lean • Scalable• Reflects Agile values and principles

– Just enough control• Management and authorization models are inverted 

• Responds quickly to feedback and emerging requirements

• Takes advantage of technological innovations and automation

An Agile process has ‘just enough’ control to enable business results.

How Much is ‘Just Enough’?

Just enough process will depend on• Regulatory and governance requirements• Organizational and process maturity • Available automation • Supply chain and environmental complexities • Average volume and scope of changes • Release cadence• Testing requirements and criteria• Customer support mechanisms

How do you know if you have just enough or too much?Start with a minimum critical activities and measure your performance.

What are Minimum Critical Activities?

• Represent activities that must be performed to provide evidence of compliance– Legal and regulatory controls, standards

• Define the ‘what to do,’ not ‘how to do it’• Are not based on a single framework• Provide a starting place to assess current practices

– Red:  not performing– Yellow: performing; needs improvement– Green: performing successfullyIn the context of process design, minimum critical activities are

similar to the software design concept ‘minimum viable product.’

What is a Minimum Viable Product?

• In the context of process design and improvement, an MVP – Includes minimal critical activities– Provides a scalable starting point – Demonstrates enough benefit to justify additional investments

– Provides feedback to guide improvementsActivities can be implemented using a combination of successful internal

procedures and one or more ITSM frameworks (e.g., ITIL, MOF, COBIT).

A minimum viable product (MVP) is the most pared down version of a product (or process) that can be released and still provide

enough value that people are willing to use it.

Don’t waste your time and money building a product (or process)

no one will want to use or pay for!

Designing, Reengineering and Improving Processes

Process Design and Improvement Approaches

• Developing – documenting a process that has not previously been recorded 

• Reengineering – fundamentally rethinking and radically redesigning a process 

• Improving – continually aligning the performance of an existing process with customer requirements

Source: The ITSM Process Design Guide

“Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to 

make it simple.”Woody Guthrie

Reengineer or Improve? (1)Reengineer to… Examples

Shift left Release and Deployment Management 

Adopt a pull system (vs. a push system) Request Fulfillment

Invert management and authorization models Change Management 

Reengineer or Improve? (2)Improve to… Examples

Reduce waste  Knowledge Management 

Improve efficiency  Problem Management

Better integrate a process with other processes  Incident Management 

How to Decide? 

• Rates and prioritizes process improvement opportunities • Maps processes against improvement criteria• Considers ‘Available Resources’ (e.g., funding, staff, tools)

Process Incident Mgmt

Problem Mgmt Change Mgmt

Customer Dissatisfaction 5 3 4Employee Dissatisfaction 4 4 5Cost Saving Opportunity 2 5 2Time Saving Opportunity 3 3 4Quick Win Opportunity 4 5 1Available Resources 5 1 2Total Score 23 21 18

1 = least opportunity for improvement    5 = greatest opportunity for improvement

Use a Process Improvement Matrix to determine whether to develop, reengineer or improve processes.

Source: The ITSM Process Design Guide

What to Design In• Start with minimum critical activities • Identify how and where work should be performed

• Strive to achieve best practices such as– Providing a single point of contact for customers– Pushing decision‐making to the lowest level possible without losing accountability 

– Ensuring work is done where it makes the most sense – Building quality in starting at the source– Maximizing the use of models

ITSM PDG – 6.7

What to Design Out• Excessive handoffs• Bottlenecks• Unnecessary checks 

and reviews• Activities that result in rework• Duplicate activities• The need to rekey information• Sequential activities (where 

parallel activities are possible) • Activities spread across multiple 

roles (when a single role is possible)

ITSM PDG – 6.7

“Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing...layout,

processes, and procedures.” Tom Peters

Maximize the Use of Models• Predefined procedures

– Steps to be taken – Chronological order and dependencies

– Responsibilities – Timescales and thresholds – Escalation procedures

• Define steps for handling specific types of transaction 

• Ensure a defined path or timeline is followed 

• Can be automated

Based on ITIL Text ‐ ST 4.2.4.5

Examples Change models Release models Test models  Incident models Problem models  Request models 

Models make it easy for people to do the right thing!

“When you want something done, what’s more desirable, 

commitment or compliance?”Dan Madison

Critical Success Factors• Understand and live Agile 

and Lean values• Align processes with Agile 

and Lean values • Bring transparency to

– Work in progress– Completed work– Velocity

• Expose impediments and waste 

• Focus on delivering outcomes

• Embrace change• Deliver changes 

frequently enough to drive the customer feedback loop

• Engage stakeholders in decision making

• Leverage models and technology 

• Claim the benefits!

Approach Agile as an enabler that leads to new ways of thinking, speaking and acting (behaviors).

Adopting Agile values, principles and practices affects organizational culture. 

Culture change and continuous improvement cannot happen without the support of people like you. 

Take action!

Thank you for attending this session.

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