I’ve been blessed with many rich experiences in life, but I must avoid sounding like an Academy Award winner thanking everyone, starting with their infant school teacher! Instead, I’ll give thanks where thanks are due. I’ll begin with the two people who were the early, major influences in my discovery of IT service management: Tony Brough, who many years ago introduced me to the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), and Dr. Don Page, one of the gurus of ITSM, whose remorseless logic and clarity of view I’ve always tried to emulate. Also, thank you, Rosemary Gurney, who was the first to show faith in me as a trainer, and thanks to all those hundreds of “victims” who’ve attended the training courses I’ve delivered over the years—you may be surprised by how much I have learned from you.

I’m particularly indebted to Gary Bedford and Peter Saul of the Smatra Group not only for their friendship, support, and hospitality but also for allowing me free use of their excellent ITIL Foundation training material.

Finally, particular thanks are due to all in McGraw-Hill Education, both for their invitation to write this ITIL Foundation All-in-One Exam Guide and for their efforts to keep my wayward mind focused on the essentials of style and the deadlines for the delivery of scripts. And a big thank-you must go to my eagle-eyed technical editor, David Backham, whose keen observations and sage advice have on one hand ensured a level of quality readers have a right to enjoy and on the other made up for my occasional shortcomings in current management theory and concepts!