The IT Skeptic - Comments for "Two ITIL-derived rules of thumb for organising the IT department"

COBIT gives RACI. ITIL will just give you platitudes

skeptic — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:55:11 +0000

of course if you actually want useful RACIs without having to invent your own, don't look in ITIL. Look in COBIT which has clear RACI charts for every process. ITIL will just give you platitudes about how important they are

broken thumb

buraddo — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:57:13 +0000

Organizational structure is a mystical religion. In my experience, mostly irrelevant to performance of an organization. Leadership, management, role definition, accountability etc.. are the determining factors of success.

You could easily argue separation of front and back office, or separation by technical competency (desktop vs server vs etc..) is the most efficient method. You could argue separation of management from operations gives management little or no ability to affect operational change quickly in response to service issues etc..

Organizational design is another thing that is best (IMHO) developed top down based on the strategy of the IT organization. The logical grouping of functions under a single structure is mostly to create greater informal working structures and responsiveness which should respond to goals of the IT organization. It also considers the capabilities of management and skillsets of the people in the organization to determine the scope and responsibility of each group/division.

I'll throw in a whizzer and see if anyone bites. ITIL or Service Management execution is not a goal or strategy of an organization or an IT organization. Its a cost of doing business not a value add (ie. something that creates revenue, marketshare, etc..) . You should be doing it at a level appropriate to your needs. Therefore you should not design your IT organization around Service Management. You design your processes, accountability, roles etc.. and not structure.

$0.02

Don't forget RACI

DavidM — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:42:15 +0000

I agree with what you've said. However, I would add that ITIL IS specific about clear understanding regarding a couple of things:

Before undertaking and ITIL adoption effort, be sure certain roles are filled (which ones depends on where the organization starts).

ITIL also says that reporting, accountability, etc., also have to be clearly defined (aka RACI). Chapter 6 in the CSI volume provides excellent guidance in this area (while it's about CSI it has broader applicability -- there's also good material about organizing in the other books).

David