Visions of the Future of ITIL: Third Vision
The IT Swami gives us his mid-year Visions of the Future of ITIL. Previously we had the First Vision and Second Vision. This is the Third:
Swami: There is a king who does not reign, a castle closed and dark. Rogue knights roam the countryside, pillaging and brawling. The roads are unsafe, boundaries undefined. Dukes and princes levy their own taxes. The people cry out for law and order, guidance, and unity.
One group of knights from all corners of the kingdom has formed a Round Table. It is not the King’s table – they answer to no-one. They ride up and down the highways levying their own taxes and feasting in far away towns. They govern nowhere and defend no-one, but they ride on in the morning before the people can rise up and lynch them.
The rightful ruler of ITIL is the UK Office of Government Commerce (OGC) but it either outsources or abdicates authority over most parts of the ITIL domain, choosing to be heard only in the areas of the brand and the books. Even then, most proclamations are delivered by its lieutenants: the itSMF, TSO and now APMG. See my recent article The Pillars of ITIL. When was the last time the king appeared in public, let alone toured the kingdom? Do you know the king’s or queen’s name, i.e. the ultimate “boss” of ITIL at OGC? If you answered Sharon Taylor, you are wrong. Sharon is a “hired gun” to manage the creation and delivery of Version 3 (and what an excellent job she has done of it) but she doesn’t wear the crown. A king can neglect his kingdom only so long and then one day the people will rise up.
In the meantime, power structures rise and fall all over the place, unmitigated by any central authority. I leave it to readers to guess who “the Round Table” is referring to ... and no it's not Rotary :-).
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