ITIL4 Managing Professional - Classroom or Online training?

As 2019 turned to 2020 I found myself in between roles and relaxing at home far too much for my own liking. During these periods of downtime between assignments I try to do two things::

1. Try something new
2. Educate myself

Its with this in mind that I write this article in the hope that I can help others who have a similar question to that I asked myself :

"Should I take ITIL 4 Managing Professional via self paced online learning, or my usual preference - classroom training?"

I have companies I've trained with in a classroom whom I'll always trust to educate me again, but on this occasion I couldn't find a session close to home within the following week. At this point, cost was not something I'd considered.

I sent out a plea to the 'ITIL Group' on LinkedIn.

As a result of my plea I received mixed advice, all of it good, none of it bad. Thanks to everyone that took the time to write and most of all to Claire Agutter who gave me some great information but didn't once ever try to sell any of the services provided by ITSM Zone (even though it would have been the perfect time to do so).

Still partially undecided, I found myself on the sofa descending down the Netflix black hole.

Snap out of it man!

Deciding that I needed to be productive I browsed several providers, ultimately signing up for the ITSM Zone Managing Professional Transition certification as I realised this method of delivery hit both of my aforementioned objectives: 'try something new' and 'educate myself'.

Bad news first?

Truthfully there is no bad news, only new experiences (for me). Initially I was dubious about the online experience but ultimately I enjoyed it.

I began the content on a Monday evening; I found pacing myself to be the biggest problem. Using Tuesday as a training day, I found my own pace taking regular breaks (dog walks and cooking), finishing the content on Wednesday morning in time for biscuits (any excuse). I estimate this to be approx 18 hours of learning.

I must say that in the case of the ITSM Zone materials, the related articles and videos were of great interest, as was the case study which was brought to life through its presentation in a way that I've not experienced in previous classroom sessions.

One aspect of the classroom training I took on my online journey was the mock exams. I recall often taking a section of the mock paper home with me as 'homework' on previous ITIL courses. I always found this useful, so I did it again.

• Night 1 (Monday) - mock 1 - First 5 questions, review the rationales and understand the answers whether correct or incorrect.
• Day 2 (Tuesday) - 'morning break' I used 45 mins to answer the next 15 mock 1 questions.
• Day 2 (Tuesday) - 'afternoon tea' review the 15 rationales and understand the answers whether correct or incorrect. Focussing my notes on these.
• Day 2 (Tuesday) - 'evening homework' answer the remaining 20 questions on mock 1.
• Day 3 (Wednesday) - An early start (excited) review the remaining rationales and understand the answers whether correct or incorrect.

You'll see from the above that I reviewed one mock exam steadily. This works for me as it slowed me down and made me focus on areas where I lacked understanding or I'd 'best guessed' and got answers right or wrong.

As mentioned previously, I completed the course by mid morning on Wednesday, this was as much down to early starts as anything else. I lack patience at times but knew when to rest and when to restart and I'm usually best early doors.

My tip for you: self study when you feel you are at your best, you have 90 days if needed!

Booking the exam

Arranging the exam via PeopleCert was a breeze. Ideally I'd have sat the exam on Thursday but 5:20 am was too early, even for me. Tip 2: sit the exam whenever you feel you'll be most comfortable. In my case this was 8:00am on Friday, perfect!

Having arranged the exam I then set myself another target:

The final run-through

I had Thursday free. At 7:40am I went to my desk, removing my notes. Opening my laptop at 8:00am I sat the 2nd mock exam as though in exam conditions. This prepared me for the real thing more than anything else. Post mock I reviewed the answers and rationales paper focussing my later 'revision' on my weak points putting together 3 succinct pages of notes / self created acronyms which I'd use to remind me of aspects I felt key to my understanding of the content and which I could commit to memory. An example being PIEDOD ( i like a Pie) to enable me to recall the 6 Service Value Chain activities.

Plan, Improve, Engage, Design & Transition, Obtain & Build, Deliver & Support

The exam

After installing the software (allow time for this) and locking the dog out I was ready. I had a polite and firm proctor who checked my desk, reviewed my location and set me on my way. Even though paper and pen is allowed for notes, I struggled with not having a question paper to physically scribble on like in the classroom. I like to circle, cross or tick aspects of every answer on offer to help draw a conclusion and I really missed this - maybe a suggestion for future online delivery? Nevertheless, I managed to complete the exam with no issues in 65 of the allotted 90 minutes amount of time allowed.

Final thoughts

Put simply, I really enjoyed this particular online course. It was pitched perfectly for me which I hope is reflective of it being designed for those of us with long term exposure of and qualifications in ITIL. I feel the case study was brought to life in a way that you don't get in the classroom, it just felt less 'rehearsed' which is odd as it was surely scripted for animation. I liked it that much that I've used a screen from the case study as a header for this article.

You may ask if I missed the human element? My answer is yes. That said, I didn't miss being drawn into and/or being the instigator of 'where i work we do it that way' chats even though I did the exact same thing internally in the comfort of my own home and head. I think this is because I would pause for thought and use these questions to reflect more on how the materials would either help me and my clients or indeed reinforce my own beliefs.

Another point to note, I love a report and a graph. I keep a running total and average of my test scores across various areas to help my development. My score on this exam is as per my average across all of the ITIL exams I've sat in the past, something I find particularly interesting.

In conclusion, I would recommend the delivery of training materials and particularly this course via the online self paced learning. This course is aimed at those of us with considerable experience in ITIL and that certainly helps as the material is pitched correctly. Also, if cost is a factor this is a good way to save your company / yourself some money.

If you've got this far - well done! I'd be very happy to take comments or feedback - and writing tips, having read this back I may well have identified another training need :-D.