Preface

The most commonly asked question when IT systems fail is, ‘What changed?’ We instinctively know something must have; otherwise, it would have kept on working.

Change-related failures pose significant risk to business. In response, organizations apply best-practice frameworks such as ITIL^® and standards such as ISO 20000. The goal for these efforts: to gain better control of the IT infrastructure and improve operational effectiveness. Unfortunately, despite significant improvements, organizations continue to struggle to effectively manage IT changes.

Worse, much of what has been done under the umbrella of ‘change management’ is overly complex, too internally focused on IT and doesn’t keep pace with business needs.

Some words I frequently hear in connection with a typical change management implementation are:

• Slow

• Bureaucratic

• Complex

• IT-focused

• Broken.

Here I present a practitioner’s guide to establishing, maturing and optimizing an effective IT change management capability (or programme). It’s intended to answer the question, ‘How do I actually do it?’ The goal is to help you be successful in your organization.

In contrast to a process-focused approach, my intention is to address the full spectrum of elements necessary for successful implementation, which include:

• Focus on outcomes (not process)

• Realize business value

• Adapt and adopt

• Gain (and maintain) organizational support

• Consider the culture (organizational change management)

• Phase in implementation with incremental improvements.

It’s my hope that you will find this publication helpful as a daily guide to managing the challenges the change management practitioner faces.