FOREWORD

Every Service Management “adapt and adopt” initiative teaches some very hard lessons. Those who have read the books (or passed an ITIL® Foundation course) and think, “Ah! This will be easy!” soon learn the books are references and the need to read the “whitespace” is imperative. The “how to” is often hidden in the guidance, if only due to the endless variables any organization’s culture presents. Finding a Service Manager with quality experience gained from success and failure is invaluable to any service improvement initiative. With today’s limited or reducing budgets and an economy that demands fiscal responsibility, there is very little room for “learn as you go” approaches, or support for contagious enthusiasm without beneficial results and business value.

This is where Esposito and Rogers step in. In Ten Steps to ITSM Success, those hard-learned lessons are documented and explained in a manner that requires no “whitespace” reading and supposition. They provide a structure that is proven – its activities easy to understand and apply, no matter the environment. These activities are crucial to a successful Service Management initiative or, for that matter, any improvement activity. This information has been developed over a number of years of Service Management experience, as well as continuous refinement based on highly successful workshops. This book represents that core knowledge, as well as key supporting templates.

This is the guide that will assist the newly initiated Service Manager, as well as provide practical advice, guidance or justification for the experienced Service Manager. In any case, this is a book that has been needed for a long time in the Service Management community – a no-nonsense guide to deploying service-oriented functionality. Hats off to Esposito and Rogers for finally fulfilling that need!

This book represents the second volume in the itSMF USA Thought Leadership series. It has been an extreme honor to work with the many talents found within the membership of itSMF USA, and to produce the first two volumes. It has been an even higher honor working with Angelo and Tim in editing and reviewing this book. Congratulations, gentlemen, on a job well done!

Suzanne D. Van Hove, Ed.D., FSM®

CEO, SED-IT

Enterprise IT Transformation is a subject best understood by those who have felt the frustration and pain of having to deal with an ineffective and expensive IT infrastructure. It has been my experience that many IT professionals lose sight of their objectives because they feel constrained by defined limitations and current shortcomings. They use these constraints as excuses for delivering poor service. End-users accept poor service and ineffective IT because that’s all they have. These accepted limitations “legitimize” ineffective IT.

The fundamental benefit of having, using and validating excuses is that most excuses are reasonable and defined. They articulate why things aren’t one’s fault. Good excuses are the mother’s milk of the status quo.

If this is the case, then why would a person – end-user or IT professional – read this book? The answer to this question is quite simple: this book does not redefine, try to refocus or rebut excuses. It embraces change on its own terms and allows for genuine transformation based on identified needs, including the reality of accomplishing this in a real-world business environment. I personally know both authors and have used their counsel and advice. What they outline here works.

I was a military staff officer working on a United States Navy program responsible for the transformation of the Navy’s enterprise network. This network is the largest IT network in the world, with complex and critical service requirements that support more than half a billion users. When first assigned, I knew political infighting and contractual considerations would complicate and impact the transformation effort. What I did not understand was there were some elements so disconnected from established and written requirements that accounting for, and including, them in the enterprise would represent significant challenges.

Desperate for a way to rein in cost, I identified and quantified key enterprise service requirements. Using an approach very similar to the one defined in this book, Angelo and Tim lead the effort to implement a practical approach consistent with Information Technology Infrastructure Library® (ITIL®) guidelines. This book does not rewrite ITIL®, or redefine Information Technology Service Management (ITSM); it articulates intent. It defines tools for the IT professional to use that promote effective process development, establish governance bodies and define key infrastructure elements. My best advice to both the IT professional and enterprise end-user: read this book.

Eugene Smith

Commander, USNR