3 Questions with with David Ratcliffe

Q1: ?Are we paying for our sins? Did ITIL version 1 consider people, or was it about processes?

No. We thought it was about the books. We thought it was a part of what was being written down that was going to solve our problems.

?But it's all about incremental steps of improvement. Before ITIL 4, it wasn't something simple that you could recite in an elevator.

?I think ITIL 4 takes those additional steps forward, not just in the definition of value, but in the importance of understanding that there is an impact on an output from something like culture and the collaboration and the way people work together.

?We've always talked about processes and tools. Let's put those to one side, we've accepted the value they bring. But it's the people aspect: understanding the value and collaboration between people and teams, suppliers, co-workers, customers, and so on.

?There are two things I would say about ITIL 4. One is this greater appreciation of value and two is the greater appreciation of humans and how we work together.

02. What's the value of ITIL outside of IT?

I've been asked this before, what do you think about the idea of taking the ITIL principles and applying them across business? I was less open to the idea, maybe after today I might think about it a bit more, because I think it's very tough.

?You have to be careful how much you can really achieve. Certainly, there are some principles and some practices that could be applied across the organisation.

As long as we are not wagging our finger and telling the business that it has to be this way, because we learned this from ITIL.?

We are doing a lot of work with NASA. Can you believe this? We're doing root cause analysis, training and consulting with the NASA organization.

?I mean, surely, they should be able to teach us how to do this, right? because they've had a lot of experience, and they do a good job of quality. But every now and again, something falls between the cracks. I'm just not sure that IT has got as much to offer business as the other way round. I think some businesses have a lot to offer the rest of the functions, including IT.

?Q03. What's one question you wish you'd been asked?

?It’s one of the most frequently asked questions we get and Katrina, this is going to make you shiver.

?People ask things like: ?how do I get people to follow the process? Assuming the problem is with people, and a process or a set of instructions or a checklist is going to solve the problem.

?Checklists, flow charts, instructions are helpful, of course they are, but you've got to get inside people's minds to understand how to get the best out of them. And if you don't explain to people why a change is important, you're just not going to make much progress.

?Unless you can explain to people the benefits to the organization -- and hopefully to them, why a change needs to happen, you might as well tear up your checklists and everything else.

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