Agile IT Service Management (ITSM): New Era Of Service Management

Suppose, you’ve walked into the nearest MacD after office hours. You’re dying out of hunger. You have decided what to order and right then, you come across an offer that is providing two newly launched different flavored burgers at quite a reasonable rate. Would you like to go for one burger anymore? Or you’d rather try the offer instead? You must be thinking now why we came up with this burger example while talking about Agile IT Service Management (ITSM).

Well, Agile IT Service Management (ITSM) is nothing more than two different frameworks working together. Different, but similar in many aspects. Just like those two burgers. But, how can you make two different frameworks work together and make it successful? Do Agile IT Service Management (ITSM) integrations really work?

In this blog, we are going to tell you all about Agile IT Service Management (ITSM). Make sure to drop a comment if you’ve any queries about the same.

We know that you are aware of the Agile framework and ITSM very well. But since we’re going to dig down deeper in both the frameworks, let’s refresh your memory about both of them first!

What Is Agile?

Agile software development comprises of various approaches to software development under which requirements and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self- organizing and cross-functional teams and their customers’ end-users. It advocates adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, and continuous improvement. Also, it encourages rapid and flexible response to change.

Agile works on 12 principles mentioned
in the Manifesto for Agile Software Development:

  1. Customer satisfaction by early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
  2. Welcome changing requirements, even in late development.
  3. Deliver working software frequently (weeks rather than months).
  4. Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers.
  5. Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted.
  6. A face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location).
  7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
  8. Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace.
  9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design.
  10. Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential.
  11. Best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing
    teams.
  12. Regularly, the team reflects on how to become more effective and adjusts
    accordingly.

We hope your Agile memories are refreshed now. Get ready to do the same with ITSM as
well.

What is ITSM (IT Service Management)?

ITSM (IT Service Management) refers to the entirety of activities that are directed by policies, organized and structured in processes and supporting procedure that is performed by an organization to design, plan, operate and control IT services offered to customers. Not only it differs from more technology-based IT management approaches like network management and IT system management, but it also focuses on adopting a process approached more towards management aiming towards customer satisfaction and smooth IT services.

ITSM brings the concept of service desk on-board. A service desk is basically a single point of contact to meet the communication needs of both users and IT staff. Now, let’s check out the ways they can work hand in hand.

Ways of integrating Agile and ITSM (IT Service Management) together:

Does it seem difficult to integrate these two together? Well, it’s not!
What if we tell you that you don’t even need to go deep in Agile, you just need to know the
basics.
The key points of Agile Manifesto which can help you out to achieve Agile ITSM are:

  • Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
  • Working software over comprehensive documentation
  • Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
  • Responding to change over the following plan

Once you have noted all these points, let us show you the path to achieve Agile ITSM.

1. Focus on value:

Not sure about what this means? This means you need to understand your customers at a deeper level. If you have an on-going conversation with your customer you can understand the desired business outcomes that can underpin the service value.

2. Design for experience:

You need to think about the customer’s end-to-end experience. In order to understand the customer experience fully, you need to evaluate your touch-points as well.

3. Start where you are:

A cultural shift can be tough. You need to look at all your current practices to determine what works well and what doesn’t. If you implement that at the starting point, you can reduce the efforts to reach the desired future state.

4. Work holistically:

What does the term ‘Work holistically’ means? It doesn’t just mean knowing all about the people, processes, products, and partners. It also means understanding the associate relationships, dependencies, and interfaces on a deeper level. You never know the seemingly little changes can create a huge difference as well!

5. Progress iteratively:

Aim to achieve smaller goals. This way, the implementation of strategies and the adoption of a new culture will be easier for your staff.

6. Observe directly:

Observe the activities of the staff directly, pay close attention to what they are doing to satisfy the customers. In this way, you’ll have a better understanding of the current state and the impact of your improvements.

Takeaway:

Although they have their differences, still ITSM work with Agile pretty well! And to implement
that in real life, you need to be a master in Agile ITSM. Wonder how to do that? Well, there is
no better way than Agile ITSM certification! Why don’t you give it a try till the time we see
you in our next blog?

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