[Infrastructures] RE: ITIL? (Rainer.Heilke@atcoitek.com)

[Francis Liu]

> From: infrastructures-admin@TerraLuna.Org 
> [mailto:infrastructures-admin@TerraLuna.Org] On Behalf Of 
> Steve Traugott
> 
> We focus more on the technical tools because we're a bunch of geeks,
> but the technical tools are useless without an organization that knows
> how to use them and has the financial and cultural will to do so.
> (I've found that most of the time I spend on a site with folks tends
> to be working with them on the cultural and financial bits.)
> 
> The thing that struck me about ITIL when I first saw it was that it's
> completely an organizational solution -- they try to solve everything
> in that layer.  ITIL is so tools-agnostic that it seems to assume
> there are *no* tools -- and things that should be handled e.g. by a
> version control tool get handled by meetings and human procedures
> instead.  
> 
> There is some merit to being tools-agnostic, as long as the document
> suggests that tools would help, and as long as the community culture
> encourages good implementations.  So far I'm not seeing anything like
> those traits in ITIL community culture.  Does anyone know of any ITIL
> implementation which uses anything other than human-executed
> procedures?

ITIL, by focussing on process, rather than tools means that it's harder
for company execs to say, "we must use Tool X. By having Tool X, we will
be using an ITIL tool, and that will make us ITIL compliant". I think
the ITIL people understand that business people are always searching for
magic technology bullets. That's why it's tool agnostic.

Having said that, I'm aware that HP's ServiceDesk is supposed to work in
an ITIL manner. And I'm sure there are some organisations out there that
will have implemented ITIL with it, though, of course, there will lots
of people things around it.

Regards,
Francis