Alterpoint is located in Austin (where I’m located) and makes network management software that is integrated with our BMC Remedy Action Request System and BMC now resells their product, DeviceAuthority. With just a couple of “follow this idea” clicks, as often happens when I read blogs, I found this blog entry, ” Break it Down: Making Strides with ITIL and Best Practices.” In it they give props to BMC for creating the BSM Routes to Value that make the sometimes daunting task of implementing best practices for IT manageable — by breaking it down into parts that make sense. My favorite lines from this post are these, because it mirrors my own observations lately.
One of the basic points is that these transformational projects have too much at stake to be threatened by internal pride or lack of good internal assessment. To realign around ITIL or other best practices, you often need to adjust, enhance or expel some process and cultural factors that are baked into your operation before you even start talking about technology.
I’ve got a white paper in progress where I offer observations of methods for implementing ITIL best practices, starting with the infrastructure tools you already have in place, and in it I discuss getting started with small projects that can later add up to more. You hear corporate culture stories when you start to talk about ITIL projects, and Gary Holmes has some great observations in his comment on Throw out ITIL, but keep the CMDB?. I look forward to hearing more corporate culture and organizational communication stories as I continue to learn about this IT Infrastructure Library myself.