Sancho! My Sword, My Armor! or if you will... ITIL-ting at windmills

Another round of proud MSIS-ers is winding their way through ITIL training soon. You can't swing a dead cat around an IT department without running into the inevitable and somewhat irreparable methods of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library. Often championed as much as they are vilified, this body of knowledge tends to make neurotic hearts aflutter as much as it causes severe strain on the superior oblique muscle for those among us that are more cynical.

To me, ITIL and its cozy companion of ITSM (Information Technology  Service Management) have their place in our world. We are, in my opinion, that most interesting of groups in that we are a 'medium sized' IT department. Many of our peers are either quite a bit smaller or substantially larger. We have an obligation to try to be as nimble as possible to respond to our patrons expectations while adopting the practices of the larger IT organizations to ensure we are not digging ourselves into more technical debt than we can fulfill. What ITIL helps us with is a common vocabulary and understanding that we can use internally as well as aid us in collaborating with MCIT and ITS around process driven operations.

The dangers of ITIL are to try to implement it as though it were a set of rigid instructions that build a 'good IT shop'. They are not that at all, though I admit many organizations leverage ITIL and ITSM to that end or as some sick hoax for innovative information services. My hope is that we use ITIL in careful measure to help communicate and prioritize some of the more complex processes we require to manage our services. Over time we can look for opportunities to develop maturity around those practices in order to progress the effectiveness and sustainability of our service investments.

I like this guy and his take on the whole thing. You'd swear by his nature and tone that he comes from academic IT. http://www.itskeptic.org/blog

Good luck in your pursuit of the little green pin!