The document discusses the expectations organizations have for IT service management (ITSM) projects. At a strategic level, key expectations include business alignment, adding business value, bringing technology thought leadership, and having an outcome orientation. Operationally, expectations are highest and include improved customer service, asset management, and greater resilience. Users expect the ITSM project to reduce their stress, burnout, and turnaround, while being pragmatic and quick. The document emphasizes that people must be the focus of any ITSM project in order to meet expectations, and that change management and leadership are critical to achieving sustainable change.

1. Great Expectations
Robert Lilley
Friday Solutions Ltd
www.fridaysolutions.com 1

2. 2
My Experience
I have shaped and driven 25 ITSM projects.
My involvement has covered:
• Designed and managed projects
• I have been a shoulder to cry on, a confidant &
supporter of Technical Leads, Resource Managers, IT
Managers and CIOs.
This experience has given me a good rounded view of
what clients hope to achieve from ITSM projects,
what their Great Expectations are.

3. A Confession
3
Now I have a confession: I missed out on
the “process Gene” .
I am not an ITIL man: so I wouldn’t dare
present at an ITSM conference on ITSM.
But I am fortunate to know and work with
some really talented people and through
their experience Friday Solutions has
delivered many successful ITSM projects.
Their experience has given me the
confidence to stand here and present to
you.

4. Great Expectations
4
What organisations
want from ITSM ranges
form the strategic to
the operational to the
personal.

5. 5
Strategic Aspirations
At a strategic level,
there are 4 key
areas:

6. 6
Strategic Aspirations
Business
Alignment
Business alignment,
feeling that technology
should enable business
with seamless integration
between them.
The perceived isolation
or separation between
Tech & the Business is a
concern.

7. 7
Strategic Aspirations
Business
Alignment
Added Value
desire to Change
perceptions from
being the guys that
fix PCs and printers
to being respected
and appreciated for
adding value.
Adding business
value.

8. 8
Strategic Aspirations
Business
Alignment
Added Value
Thought
Leadership
Bring
technology
thought
leadership

9. 9
Strategic Aspirations
Business
Alignment
Added Value
Thought
Leadership
Outcome
Orientation

10. Operational Expectations
10
The Operational
level is the one
where our clients
have a highest
expectations:

11. Operational Expectations
11
 Improved customer
service
 Asset Management
 Facilities Management
 Financial and business
compliance.
 Risk management.
 Integrated ITSM and
Systems Management
 DevOps
 Effectiveness
 Greater resilience
 Maturity
 “Out of the box”
installation of tools
 Being “ITIL Compliant” is
not on the wish list!
Pragmatism is!

12. Users Expectations
12
One thing we are
passionate about at
Friday Solutions, is the
user. A project isn’t
truly successful until
people in the
organisation have
adapted to the new
process and systems –
so users expectations
are critical to consider.
And users tend to be
most critical!!

13. Users Expectations
13
 Less stress for users of the tools
(keyboard?)
 Reduce staff burn out and turn over
 Free staff for proactive activities
 Pragmatic ITIL based implementation,
not swamped by ITIL red tape
 Just do it (JDI) quickly!

14. 14
Meeting those
Great Expectations
If the focus and expectations of
the people element of the
project isn’t align with the
projects Great Expectations:
their will be “trouble at Mill” as
they say in Yorkshire!

15. Sustainable Change
15
Peter Drucker gives an
indication of the extent to
which having people engaged
can influence a business
outcome, and that influence
can be positive or negative.
Success of a project is as much
about aligning the
Expectations of the people
with the Great Expectations of
the project as it about the
process and tools.

16. 16
Organisational
Change Management

17. 17
Manage & Reinforce Change

18. 18
Lessons Learned
- People are the focus
People are wonderfully complex things,
surprisingly complex things! with different
approaches, expectations, styles, interests . . .
To meet project objectives, the people element
of an ITSM needs:
• Leadership from top
• Ongoing behavioural change with change
management (OCM) built in from day one, not
added after
• Focus on people and their behaviour not the
tool
• Finding a hands-on champion is invaluable
our experience

19. Lessons Learned
- Process vs Pragmatism
19
We often hear people want to adopt
good practice not be drowned by ITIL
process.
ITIL-Based is often the word of the day
almost JIT “Just in Time”, as putting in
a process to address an impending
issue does focus people

20. 20
Lessons Learned
- Technology Traps
Think carefully about the technology, Choose
the right tool for the job, (not to big).
Tool selection and vender relationships is a
surprisingly difficult area from a political point
of view.
You get what you pay for, and often you can
get what you need for very little.
Understand that “some” customisation is
needed and a good thing: ITIL "out of the box"
can be an overkill and daunting in a process-
free environment, at the same time too much
customisation can bite you further down the
track
Generally we recommend a small degree of
customisation to align with the business as
out of the box often doesn’t scale down to NZ

21. Lessons Learned
- Information vs Data
21
Data into Information
- Relevant to stakeholder groups
- Business aligned
- Operational reporting that
means something to the Exec,
probably different stats to those
shared with the IT Ops team
and Technology Leadership
team.
Know your audiences.
MART project and ITSM
operational metrics.

22. 22
Lessons Learned
- Good Leadership Wins
Find a business outcome and stay
ferociously focussed on it, and when you
achieve it “show me the money”.
Plan but we willing to adopt.
alignment with business outcomes gets a
far better engagement with the Exec.

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