Third Sky Expert:

John Worthington, Director of Consulting, Third Sky

When performing a TIPA assessment I often get inputs from stakeholders that indicate an IT operation that is out of balance. These wild swings from one extreme to the other can spell real trouble for an IT operations department, as ITIL suggests.

But maintaining balance in IT operations is not something IT can do on its own; it takes the business too. It is not uncommon for operational imbalances to be driven by an ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ mentality, and this kind of dysfunction is often the root of the problem.

The IT Operation is Toast

This may be the most common, since ultimately the business controls the money and the strategic agenda. In this scenario the IT organization is held to levels of IT service performance with absolutely no regard to how it is achieved. It’s where you see good IT people who cannot consistently deliver, and acts of heroism by IT staff who regularly go above and beyond the call of duty.

Reader Question:  Our problem management process does not seem to be yielding any real benefits and is dying on the vine. What are we missing?

Third Sky Expert Answer:

Dick Szymanski, Director of Education, Third Sky

Sometimes Problem Management is seen as nothing more than a post mortem review when something really big and visble occured that we'd "better not let happen again". That is important, but truthfully the real opportunity is in the daily modest losses of productivity that can be addressed by permanent fixes, but are not, and add up.

For example, if a window get broken in the winter we act quickly with a workaround (board it up) and then replace the window, and don't let the kids play baseball in the back yard any more. Yet we have dozens of windows and door jams that have gaps and bleed cold air in and warm air out. We apply workaround like wearing sweaters and turning up the heat. When heating bill arrives that's hardly first indicator of a problem ("the underlying cause of one or more incidents") just the most visible one.

Reader Question: We're already drowning in documents, and the thought of "document control" is not really a welcome thought by most IT staff.... isn't opening this can of worms re-inventing the wheel? Why can't we just use what we're already using?

Third Sky Expert Answer:

John Worthington, Director of Consulting, Third Sky

It's no accident that TIPA's Generic Practices focus on things like management of process work products. It's also no accident that you cannot reach levels 3-5 without fully meeting TIPA's level 2.2 requirement, which focuses on:

• Defining the requirements for the process work products (inputs/outputs)
• Defining the requirements for the documentation and control of the work products
• Identifying, documenting and controlling work products
• Planning and adjusting work products

Reader Question: What are the best practices for categorizing the requests in a Request Catalog?

Third Sky Expert Answer:

Kai Holthaus, Director of Consulting, Third Sky

In a previous article, I've highlighted how to implement a Request Catalog, allowing users to simply fill out a request form, and have the fulfillment happen 'behind the curtain', and the result of the request show up for the user. For example, a user could simply fill out  form with their employee ID and a business justification to request a cell phone, which would be delivered to their desk only a day or two later, depending on the actual fulfillment processes, and whether the business justification was accepted by the process or not.

But how do you organize such requests, in order to present them to users in a way that makes it as easy as possible to for them to find the request they are looking for? For inspiration, one can look to other catalogs, for instance mail order catalogs that some companies send to your home mailbox.