It’s over, I’m moving on!

Embracing technology and divorcing Communities of Practice.

I’ve been deep in thought for the past few days; well in fact since I saw the announcement of the “disbanding” of the USA branch of the ITSMF. I’m not going to lie, I even had a sleepless night in thought. In a country the size of the USA, have we really evolved to the point where we’ve outgrown Communities of Practice (CoPs)? Has the humble User Group lost its mojo? Is the honeymoon over with those frameworks we’ve relied on?

I’ve been involved with ITIL?, Prince2?, and MoR? for decades. Since my time with the UK OGC / Treasury and have taught thousands of students. The question of “is ITIL? just the latest flavour of the month?” I always answered with a firm “no”. Lately, my “no” has changed to a more flexible “it’s evolving”.

There have been changes in the IT Governance field over the past 2-3 years that, when combined with technology evolution, have contributed to our current state where CoPs could be deemed unnecessary.

The once vibrant, well attended, and should I say eagerly anticipated, ITSMF-USA annual conference had seen dwindling attendance numbers. Then we had covid and the and the move towards virtual events. To reinforce that fact, the Conference Board Leading Economic Index? (updated Nov 2023) has shown a steady decline in conference attendance across the US since 2016. In-person events aren’t a priority for spend any more.

Governance frameworks have naturally evolved to be less rigid (take a look at the ITIL?v2 change process and you’ll see what I mean) and are now more targeted towards “you need a process, and here’s what it should achieve, but figure out the mechanics for yourself”. A framework has always been a foundation for you to build on, but is that foundation now too flexible for your comfort?

Axelos, originally a joint venture between the UK government (OGC) and Capita was absorbed by PeopleCert along with ownership of the ITIL?, Prince2?, and MoR? frameworks. They are now the single source of truth for all things once in the public domain and Axelos controlled and have set about implementing changes including disbanding partnerships with organisations who provided audit guidance for workflow toolsets and introducing their own accreditation for toolset vendors.

And what of the technology advances?

We’re all using social media, and If I want advice from a peer group I’ll throw a question into a group on Linkedin or perhaps on a public post. Sure, I’ll get varying answers, some informed, some not, but they’re just as valuable as any input from a formal user group. The best part is that I can ask for more information and filter out the answers that I don’t need.

Let’s not forget the search engines. There’s a plethora of free information and guidance out there to help you define a process, communicate a change, or even install a tiled floor. I have my own Youtube channel as do most vendors and social influencers.

Combine all of that with AI such as ChatGPT.

If I want to architect a change process do I go to an ITIL? book? Absolutely not. Do I go to my Community of Practice and ask my peers for their experience? Probably not. I’ll go to ChatGPT, feed in my organisational parameters, and ask the bot to come up with a suggestion that I can refine. And guess what? AI can come up with a tailored response quicker than I can even get to the bookshelf to get out the ITIL? book.

The Governance landscape is changing. My work is changing. Just today I had a conversation about whether a specific project should be approached in a waterfall or agile manner and my response was “let’s forget the labels and architect a management framework that fits the needs of the vision and end product”. If you’d have asked me that 5 years ago I may have given the entire organisation courses in waterfall and Agile approaches and asked them which one was the better fit. Flexibility doesn't mean chaos; it just means breaking free from constraints.

So, do my 4am ponderings have you anxious and longing for definition, or are you excited for a more flexible, tailored business as usual? Change is happening, inviting us to embrace a world that's all about flexibility and tailoring solutions to fit just right.

.