What do you find most challenging about ITIL?

[rjp]

Fellow forumites,

In May I will be presenting two papers at a major Help Desk conference here in Oz.

One of those papers is on the 'Top 5 challenges' facing ITIL implementations.

I do have a few thoughts on the subject (as those of you who are regulars here no doubt know ). But this is a great forum, and probably the most active ITIL forum today. And I think it is a great froum because of the people who participate on it. I would very much like to canvas all of you for your ideas, experiences, and anecdotes.

So, if you could, fill out the attached survey, and feel free to vent all those frustrations.... Let others benefit from your pain

And whatever additional information you may like to offer about your current role, or situation, would be greatly appreciated.

[jpomales]

The most difficult part is getting buy in. Not from Management, but from the guys in the field and in the trenches.
_________________
audentes fortuna juvat

[RobRoy47]

The most forgotten part of ITIL is the Awareness Campaign. ITIL requires a cultural change. Unless you can get everyone, not just management, on board, your implementation will be far less successful. You need to plow the field, harrow the ground, fertilize the soil, and then, and only then, plant the seed. You can only grow a good crop when all is ready.

[itilimp]

I'm hearing you RobRoy47!

Perhaps a separate thread on tips for awareness building campaigns would be useful to collate what works and what doesn't?

[valkner]

The most challenging part I think is the roles & responsibilities issue. As already told, I am working in a very hierarchical org, which has already very clear goals set within their orgstructure (NOT, but it is perceived as such).

With ITIL, you add Roles to existing situations, and change someway the authority (read Power) of people. As you are walking in a minefield there, I think this is really one of the things the books (and the presentations) fail to address.

As chairman of the local itSMF Chapter, I hope to have some real customer warstories soon, since this is probably the only way user's and implementors can understand how difficult it is to do it right in an organisation -

everybody sells the right solution, but does everybody buy the right solution ?

Best Regards

Bart Van Brabant

[Ed]

I think that jpomales and robroy47 are both spot on - getting the buy in from managers and staff is absolutely the hardest thing to do.

I really like the idea of an awareness thread. I know that even after three years in I am still working as hard as ever to convince people that it is the best idea.

[Fabien]

Strange. I go from place to place in my company and everyone is sort of looking at me like I should have been there 2 years ago. They're making my job very easy. I found the most difficult to make a business case because the lack of good existing metrics requires me to make investments just to get to a baseline, but then there is no business case for that investment and I haven't figured out the right step there yet.
_________________
BR,
Fabien Papleux

Accenture
Technology Consulting | Service Excellence
Red Badge Certified

Twitter @itilgeek

[rjp]

So far it looks like it's a lonely road out there - with getting buy in ranking top. But it's a small sample so far.

I am surprised that actual process implamentation hasn't featured strongly - it certainly takes up a good bit of space on this forum.

Thanks for the responses to date - keep em coming

[Ed]

Rjp

While I agree that the implementation process is tough, it's a question of degree - by the time you get to the implementation point you have already done the uphill struggle to get buy in. That why it's so hard - you are not preaching to the converted - you are trying to convert. Maybe next time you could look at doing top three or five and I am sure you would find more representation for Implementation

Regards

Ed

[y-servicemanager]

Hi,

What I find most difficult is to let all involved people share the same goal. When implementing the processes people tend to fall back very fast on the procedures and workinstructions and loose sight of the overall goal of a process. In the end it is all about customer satisfaction, and not about proof that certain steps are taken or certain communication is done. It is good to take a step back every now and than during implementation to check whether the implementation is still solving the initial problem the organisation was having.

regards,
Yvette

[rjp]

Thanks for the replies so far.

(I am really only posting to move it back up the index list and encourage more responses - I'd like to get a slightly bigger sample)

[eisbergsk]

Wish I could hear your presentation. Hearing of the trials & tribulations of others gives some oft-welcome perspective.

Hows this: lately it seems like our ITIL implementation consisted of taking a sheet of labels with the ITIL terms, and pasting them over what we do now. Meaning, 5 years on & nothing seems to have changed
We seem to have succumbed to Tool-worship, too, and act like implementing a tool, even when it doesn't work right, or we've customized the hell out of it to break all its inherent functionality, suddenly makes us ITIL compliant.
(Both our Incident Management data base and Knowledge Base exhibit 'Hotel California' characteristics. Data checks in, and its impossible to ever get anything out.)
As a glimmer of hope (or amusement) in all this, there is a corporate planning recommendation for us to seek ISO20000 certification. Too bad I'm eligible to retire next year, so I won't be able to stick around and watch... Whats frustrating is that real ITIL would work here.
*sigh*
/Sharon

[Azard]

As a consultant and implementing various ITIL processes, our organization finds that getting management by in is the key.

While process implementation takes a great deal of work and effort, without the support of uppermangement to enforce the changes and deal with the political issues/concerns/fights, etc that occur, many organization have a tendancy to revert back to their old habits once we left.

However with strong management support (experience is from dealing with large organizations), ITIL implementations has helped bring about cultural changes and break down some of the silo mentality that exist. It takes time, but you need to have management actively involved in the Process. They need to walk the talk.

cheers,

Azard

[rjp]

One last 'dummy' post - just to see if I can encourage a few more responses before the conference by brining it to the top of the topic list.

[matrejekm]

When I fill the survey I think about two problems: management and staff commitment.

What I know now ->
Management approval on ITIL deployment doesn't mean commitment. Sometimes you have to fight like a zealot to make someone hire to make proper decisions and let you do your job.

But more difficult is to get people involvement. Generaly they are not willing to change they way of working. Especially at the beginning, when processes are not perfect yet, many people try to harm ITIL deployment (often not deliberately).

I can remember an interesting story from my experience:
- I found another factor working in multicultural organisation - attitude is diffirent in different nations. One nation had a perfect ability to improvise. In the beginning phase, when processes were not implemented completely they found their own way to make processes work - and it was good (in this phase they were the best performing team). But then it appeared very hard to change their way of working into proper direction (proper = one way of working for all teams and departments). They act like they were perfect and do not need to change anything (they blame other teams for all failures). The team which hart was "won" for the ITIL deployment project became the most dangerous for successful completion.

BTW: Did you succeed in getting management commitment for Awareness Campaing aimed at all company staff?