The Skeptical Informer, 2007
2007
- The role vendors play in the ITIL community
- The ITIL world descends into farce
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- Don't fall for the CMDB demo - The IT Skeptic
- Many ITIL projects are overcapitalised renovations
- The itSMF voting saga: who is Julie Linden?
- Great myths of ITIL #1: "You can't manage what you can't measure".
- Five reasons ITIL Version 3 is not "Best Practice"
- ST p223 CAB/EC to ECAB
- itSMF publish their list of ITIL Version 3 processes
- Malcolm Fry swaps sides
- Good advice for those on the receiving end of the IT Skeptic's comments
- Comments from the IT Skeptic blog, November 2007
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- Brother ISACA
- ITIL's biggest hole: where is the meta-lifecycle?
- itSMF risks instability and constitutional crisis through high-handed elimination of election candidates
- Who Is The IT Skeptic
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- IT ops can learn from Lean - The IT Skeptic
- 10 reasons NOT to do CMDB - The IT Skeptic
- Why chase Best Practice?
- The IT Skeptic blog is about debating ideas not personalities
- The penny dropped: itSMF "members" are in fact shareholders.
- Five reasons not to rush into ITIL Version 3
- Occam's Razor applied to itSMF USA election saga
- How long can they beat the CMDB drum? What is the next fad?
- How to read the ITIL version 3 Service Strategy book
- How not to comment-spam a website
- latest on ITIL Version 3 Certification from APMG
- a scout hall built between a pub and a brothel
- The trainers actually delivering ITIL version 3 Foundations certification training are NOT HAPPY
- What I know about the candidates for itSMF International Chair and Board
- Please identify yourself if commenting about other people
- itSMF International has announced the results of election nominations
- Comments pulled from the IT Skeptic blog
- Comments from the IT Skeptic blog, September 2007
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- certification: get it sorted
- alignment... no: unification... with ISO20000 and COBIT, for starters
- governance of itSMF
- vendor influence on APMG, TSO, itSMF...
- public input to ITIL
- The IT Skeptic has dropped anonymity: identity revealed
- Announcing the IT Skeptic's first ever guest blogger: Sharon Taylor, Chief Architect and Chief Examiner of ITIL Version 3
- Top 10 reasons NOT to implement CMDB
- ITIL Version 2.5: Will we see hybrids?
- Visions of the Future of ITIL: First Vision
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- IT ops can learn from Lean - The IT Skeptic
- ITIL Version 2.5, Hybrids? - The IT Skeptic
- IBM: the company with such a firm grasp of ITIL strategic issues that they sold their service desk
- IT operations can learn from lean manufacturing
- The CMDB Federation releases its federation specification for public review
- Lies, damned lies and statistics: adoption of ITIL
- Establish a name for yourself as a thought-leader in ITSM
- A special thank-you to all you readers
- More on the three sets of itSMF rules
- 10 reasons NOT to do CMDB - The IT Skeptic
- We get the governance we deserve: what to do about itSMF?
- itSMF International secret rules revealed
- They're changing the guard at ITIL palace
- the ITIL industry is worth about $2 BILLION to $5 BILLION per year
- Selected comments from the IT Skeptic blog for August 2007
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- Top 10 reasons NOT to implement CMDB
- ITIL Version 2.5: Will we see hybrids?
- Is ITIL V3 Foundations designed to suit the needs of the students or the trainers?
- ITIL on eBay: an IT Skeptic Special Report
- Books by the IT Skeptic
- C'mon, confess to the world! You're just an ITIL Learner.
- The Sheep from the Goats - The IT Skeptic
- The march of ITIL zealots
- itSMF USA board election irregularities: the IT Skeptic unlocks the original posts
- Technology does not fix process problems, but that's still what people want to see
- How to use this website
- ITIL Version 3
- I saw it on a computer so it must be true
- A nice skeptical ITIL cartoon
- The future of the IT Skeptic's blog
- Tell us what you think about the new ITIL Version 3 books, and see what others thought
- Wonderful discussion of process improvement
- How to tell whether your IT vendor is a product vendor or a consultant
- A superb piece of IT Skepticism
- I want links on the IT Skeptic site that link to another site to open in ...
- The Sheep from the Goats: ITIL vendors and Version 3
- The IT Skeptic's first impressions of the ITIL Version 3 core books
- Selected comments from the IT Skeptic site for July 2007
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- ITIL product compliance
- A visualisation of how ITIL Version 3 transforms ITIL version 2
- The itSMF does not exists to represent the interests of its members - they say so themselves
- Financial transparency of the itSMF: let's have some.
- itSMF can be forgiven a little shaky governance
- Dirty deeds done dirt cheap. More on ITIL V3 discounting and how TSO screws itSMFI screws local itSMF...
- Announcing the IT Skeptic's BOKKED: the Body of Knowledge Known Error Database, for ITIL et al
- ITIL Version 3 changes everything for ATOs and consulting firms.
- Antonio Valle Salas's Mystery of the 1.1.1 Deleted - was ITIL once "public domain"?
- Books by the IT Skeptic
- Recommended links
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- Financial transparency at itSM - The IT Skeptic
- ITIL’s dead elephant: CMDB can't be done
- The IT Skeptic reviews ITIL V3 book "Service Strategy"
- ITIL V3 Certification points system: the magic number 21.5
- "Good IT Service Management is simply not possible without” a CMDB? Balls!
- McKinsey on IT Strategy; a combination of insight and gibberish
- Where to officially report ITIL book errors: "behind a locked door marked BEWARE OF THE LEOPARD"
- Paint it yellow! Living in a world of numbers. From "Triumph of the Airheads"
- Don't get het up about ITIL V3 qualifications scheme; it is still a work in progress
- The commercialisation of ITIL: a slow boiling of the frog
- Magic happens. BMC promise some magic ITIL.
- itSMF global members/sponsors: dropping your pants is not a good business model
- Why the IT Skeptic site exists
- My first ITIL spam. ITSM is going to the dogs.
- The CMDB Federation lumbers on
- How to use this website
- Selected comments from the blog for June 2007
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- What are training vendors supposed to say to people who ask them for V2 training?
- What are the new consistent rules for accreditation of training organisations for V3?
- On what basis were the seven countries for the launch selected? Ask to see the minutes of meetings of the Board of your organisation, the itSMF, or of any other body runnign ITIL
- What is the formal commercial relationship between OGC and itSMF and between TSO and itSMF? On what basis is itSMF organising the worldwide launch of V3 instead of OGC?
- Why do the eight Global itSMF members (all poor, down-on-their-luck international mega-corporations) get deep discounts on V3 that go a long way towards paying back their subscription, while local branches carry the burden of servicing their staff without reimbursement from itSMFI?
- What are the allegations against itSMF USA's last Board elections? How long has the Board really known about them before finally being forced to act?
- What were the vote counts by IPESC for the V3 books, and what were the comments and discussions around them by the people who represent we itSMF members?
- How was the architecture of V3 derived from the 400+ submissions? Can we see the submissions to draw our own conclusions about what the user community wanted?
- What were the views of the reviewers of V3?
- Where are the annual report and audited accounts of itSMFI?
- Given that TSO is now a private operation owned by German banks, what is their contribution to the costs of the V3 Launch?
- The little spot of bother at the itSMF USA
- The scale of ITIL Version 3: are people ready for it?
- The king's method of writing a new decree: how OGC does ITIL V3
- A visualisation of how ITIL Version 3 transforms ITIL version 2
- everything the IT Skeptic can find out about ITIL Version 3 on one page
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- Who Is The IT Skeptic
- Books by the IT Skeptic
- Announcing the IT Skeptic's ITIL Pipe - an ITIL newsfeed
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- New products in the IT Skeptic's store
- Don't fall for the CMDB demo - The IT Skeptic
- Today’s shock joint announcement from Microsoft and IBM throws ITIL Refresh into doubt - The IT Skeptic
- ITIL damage by vendors? - The IT Skeptic
- The king's method of writing a new decree: how OGC does ITIL V3 - The IT Skeptic
- Sharon Taylor's 5 ITIL Myths - The IT Skeptic
- Is ITIL Dead in the Water?
- Sharon Taylor's five common myths about ITIL Version 3
- Today’s shock joint announcement from Microsoft and IBM throws ITIL Refresh into doubt
- How badly is ITIL damaged by vendor influence? What needs fixing?
- IBM draws that long ITIL bow again
- The CMDB Tidal Wave? More of a ripple.
- APMG finally let us in on ITIL Certification thinking
- IT Skeptic Version 3 Refresh
- Volcanic rumblings under the ITIL mountain
- Sorry for any inconvenience
- ITSM skepticism becomes a crowded field
- An Alternative to ITIL
- Watch out Microsoft, your spurious patents may be worthless
- Powerpoint as a protector of intellectual property
- These big frameworks are in vogue because as opposed to thinking, folks just want the answer
- SLAs are not as widely applicable as ITIL would have us believe. The Catalog is.
- itSMF announce all seven global ITIL Version 3 launch events only weeks away so book now!
- Selected comments from The IT Skeptic blog for May 2007
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- secrecy in governance
- undeclared vested interests
- questionable trainer practices selling V2 certifications
- questionable vendor influence
- failure to adopt changes in "best practice for best practice"
- lack of independent user representation
- Today’s shock joint announcement from Microsoft and IBM throws ITIL Refresh into doubt
- The ITIL version 3 Refresh Launch Roadshow: the world waits with bated breath....
- BMC, CA, Fujitsu, HP, IBM and Microsoft promise to play nicely over ITIL CMDB. Yeah, right!
- Web 2.0, hype or just hype? An IT Skeptic Special Report
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- Books by the IT Skeptic
- The IT Swami
- All-time favourite blog entries
- Today’s shock joint announcement from Microsoft and IBM throws ITIL Refresh into doubt - The IT Skeptic
- When you don't run IT - The IT Skeptic
- Are Microsoft patenting CMDB? - The IT Skeptic
- advice for purchasers of ITIL - the IT Skeptic
- CMDB can't be done, no-how - The IT Skeptic
- The Emperor has no clothes. Where is the evidence for ITIL?
- IBM wrote ITIL. In fact Alasdair Meldrum did
- ITIL Version 3 London launch event announced: the IT Skeptic comments
- Six reasons to use Live Chat for support
- Software branding seems to be in the hands of imbeciles.
- ITIL certification and training: Version 2 recognised but not as a prerequisite for Version 3
- Microsoft are more avaricious than the Fat ITSM Four, by a nose
- Rediscovering the Big Iron
- Irrational exuberance in the IT industry: CMDB is going nuts
- CIO Asia magazine criticises the IT Skeptic's comments
- SLAs: measuring an ITSM service as a black box is essential
- Somebody help me: what is the point of standalone CMDB tools?
- Selected comments from The IT Skeptic blog for March 2007
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- You and I both will get tired of OGC's dirty laundry
- There are other topics waiting in the wings
- Version 3 will be out soon and I can turn to critically analysing the content rather than the process of getting there
- Announcing the Inaugural IT Skeptic Awards for 2006
- The Emperor Still Has No Clothes: no evidence for ITIL
- Should you do ITIL certification training with ITIL version 3 looming? An IT Skeptic Special Report
- ITIL reform needed: not letting the money changers and hookers into the temple, just some sort of protestant reformation
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- Newsletter Poll
- When you don't run IT - The IT Skeptic
- CMDB can't be done, no-how - The IT Skeptic
- The key to living without CMDB - The IT Skeptic
- Is ITIL another Y2K? - The IT Skeptic
- ITIL the cult
- Book review: "I Think Something is Missing From ITIL" by Ian Clayton, reviewed by the IT Skeptic
- The Service Delivery Tool gap?
- Acoustic shock syndrome – don’t employ nervous anxious people in your call-centre, it will cost you
- BMC, CA, Fujitsu, HP, IBM and Microsoft promise to play nicely over ITIL CMDB. Yeah, right!
- The IT Skeptic defends his anonymity
- An apology to the OGC, the itSMF and the ITIL community from the IT Skeptic
- Someone should tell the OGC and TSO bookshops about the ITIL Refresh
- When you don't run IT as a business, the inevitable results: bad business decisions.
- The CMDB boundary problem: stop chasing this technological rainbow of a unified CMDB repository
- A great article on how technology does not fix process in CMDB
- ITIL is on the wane - Bruton
- Selected comments from The IT Skeptic blog for February 2007
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The ITIL certification storm continues to rage. The IT Skeptic blog saw much activity around training and certification this month. How on earth do APMG expect to have any credibility as a training organisation if they violate the most basic principles of adult education? I am no expert but I did half of a post-graduate Certificate in Adult Education before I discovered what lecturers get paid, and I have designed and delivered many IT courses from one to five days long, and I'm shocked by what I see.
Never have I heard a single authorative source suggest that 25 is an appropriate size for a class in a complex technical subject like ITIL.
Nobody in their right mind would consider covering all five ITIL books in three days - no matter how lightly - with people who have no prior exposure to the subject.
And only post-modernist intellectual idiots suggest that multi-choice is an appropriate mechanism for examining practitioners in IT consulting.
But APMG thinks all of these are a good idea. I don't actually think that APMG or the Senior Examiner Panel are stupid people, so that leaves one other option: that all these decisions were taken with a commercial imperative. They are not in the best interest of the students, they are not designed to deliver quality education, they are not intended to ensure competent graduates. It is hard to come to any other conclusion than that these three decisions are taken solely to benefit the vendors of training.
Pack them in at 25 a course to maximise revenues. Keep it down to three days to make it easy to sell. And make all exams multi-choice so we don't have to pay human graders - we can just run it through a machine.
I find this venality appalling, especially because it is so overt. APMG is answerable to no-one but OGC, who never takes a stand on anything except protecting their own copyright. itSMF exists to promote the industry not to represent the user community, so they are not going to pipe up. The industry can just pillage away unchallenged. No wonder the Department of Justice is sniffing around our industry: I can smell the stink from here in New Zealand.
I think this dissent stems from a more fundamental problem. As a result of integrating all the "Lost Books" of Version 2, ITIL Version 3 is an order-of-magnitude broader and more complex than the red-and-blue-books-version2 that most people work with. This is an advance for the industry, a step up in competency. Unfortuantely it is only a step up if you are already standing on the Version 2 step. If you have not embarked on the service management journey yet, then Version 3 represents a high wall. Chuck the Five Books at a beginner and they'd run screaming. This is what is happening with the Fundamentals course: jam the five books into three days and the result is deep shock.
Version 3 provides no intermediate steps up the wall. Version 2 is the only "beginner's ITIL" available. OGC and TSO are hell-bent on killing off Version 2 as fast as possible. But Version 2 will not go anywhere until an "ITIL for Dummies" comes out as part of V3 complementary guidance. Or people will start turning to alternatives such as FITS.
The other book we desperately need is "How to Implement ITIL" including a progressive series of steps up that wall. The Five Books say where to get to but they still say little about how to get there.
I've criticised the development of version 3 in the past for not being open and inclusive enough and I think this is a consequence. If ITIL Version 3 had been tested with a wider audience along the way which included organisations with no knowldghe of ITIL then this would have emerged as a problem sooner. But it wasn't. It was developed from and tested on the existing ITIL community, and mostly the private little club of the ITIL aristocracy.
So if any reader wants to gain fame and save the world, write a decent book on How to Do ITIL.
These remarks are probably not the best way to introduce the next bit of news: Sharon Taylor has agreed to be an occasional guest blogger on the IT Skeptic (see below). I'm hoping this move will take the quality of debate on the blog to the next level.
On another note, let me share a comment from me from the blog re itSMF:
I want to be part of an organisation that represents the views of the users of ITIL not the sellers of ITIL. And right now I'd like it to be kicking some butt on a number of issues:
Oh...and this month I outted myself. Hi, my name's Rob.
The dust is settling after the ITIL Version 3 launch. I've already said nice things in the May edition of this newsletter but it is appropriate to do so again. I congratulate OGC on the reception of the ITIL 3 content: a recent informal poll on the IT Skeptic site returned a nicely formed bell-curve between "useless" and "better than anything else". One imagines that coming from IT Skeptic readers the voters may be skewed towards the less-gruntled end of that spectrum, so I think Sharon and Co. you hit the spot. Thankyou!
[Disclaimer: voters were unverified so vote-stacking cannot be ruled out. It does happen online you know]
Rather than look back this month I want to look forward, to two significant upcoming events: the election of the itSMF International Board and itSMF USA Board.
International comes in for criticism on the blog from me and from readers, and obviously there is a pall cast over the USA Board at the moment by the Executive Director's abrupt departure ,and the fraudulent voting apparently of or on behalf of a member. (There is also the possibility that somebody fiddled the votes entirely without the knowledge of any Board member at all, for their own conspiratorial ends. Whoever it was they had some high-level database access. We await further revelations: as was said to me recently, this story is better than Harry Potter.)
The USA nominations have already closed, at the end of July. Quick, did you see it? The call for nominations was in the July Forum magazine and on the website (still is). I'm not sure for how long it was advertised (you might be able to call foul) or whether a late submission has any chance.
For International the notice is also terribly short: end of August. That is not a long time to talk to family, employer and supporters; make a decision; get yourself selected as the national Board candidate (which is distinct from the national representaive to International); then wend your way through the bureaucracy; so please get on it.
Just about all paid-up itSMF members are in fact eligible for these positions. So please give it some serious thought. Are you happy with the way the organisations are going? Could you do better? Would you like to contribute?
You can bet that mates in the inner circles have already been fingered for these positions for some time now, but that doesn't mean you won't win the vote. The US Board is elected by all members (as we are painfully aware right now), and only about 10% voted last time so anything could happen.
The International Board is elected by national chapters, i.e. one country one vote. The entire International Board is to be vacated this year (Chairman plus 6 Board members), so there never was a better time for an outsider to run. And many countries are not entirely happy so don't expect consistently establishment voting.
So think about it please! (Yes I did and no I won't be)
Finally, and also looking forward, please provide feedback on where you would like the IT Skeptic blog to be heading in the future. I've had some great comments but I'd like to hear from more of you.
For reasons that are not clear, my newsletter database says I didn't send the June edition. I hope this is wrong, but what the heck: a bonus this month, two newsletters! June and September! (Thanks to the way the template works, you'll get the same pictures in both, sorry)
What an extraordinary month it was in June on the IT Skeptic blog. I had expected ITIL Version 3 books to dominate proceedings, but they took a back seat to debate over the itSMF: it's transparency, it's accountability to members, and the broader debate over its viability and reason for existence.
We also had an enormous debate over the philosophy behind the Service Strategy book, culminating in accusations of plagiarism in comments on the blog! Not to mention robust discussion of APMG's new certification scheme for V3, and the perennial CMDB. Next to all that, the IT Skeptic's new BOKKED, the Body of Knowledge Known Error Database, has had to take a back seat. But I hope this facility will grow if it is seen as useful by the IT community.
Getting back to the itSMF, the IT Skeptic was delighted to see Keith Aldis - CEO of itSMF UK and of itSMF International - wade into debate on my blog. His openness and preparedness to meet criticism head on is a refreshing change from past practice. Long may it last, though a cynic doubts that it will last long, once other powers notice. He has been quiet of late...
We have had two emails from Leah Palmer, itSMF USA President, to US members regarding the accusations of foul play in the itSMF USA Board election. These emails either show a determination to investigate all avenues or a determination to shoot the messnger - I am not yet sure which.
This is not the end of the itSMF's woes with Board trouble brewing in another country as well!
You can see from this newsletter that the IT Skeptic has taken a long hard look at governance and transparency of itSMF. A recent poll shows just under 90% of you are itSMF members so this examination will continue (the rest of you please bear with us for now).
I end with two quotes from me from the blog:
"I encourage all readers who are itSMF members ...to ask ...questions of your local chapter. Ask them formally in writing and ask your chapter executive to pass them officially to itSMF International for response. If that doesn't work email the Chairman direct: chair@itsmf.org. I'm just a troublemaking nutter living on 'the last two rocks before you step off the planet'. I can safely be ignored. A groundswell of queries from multiple chapters cannot."
"My personal interest on the internet is social computing or Web 2.0. This blog has made me intrigued by the democratic power of Web 2.0 and I have already served notice that I intend to explore that power. You can see the first rumblings on this blog already..."
One ITIL V3 author told me I am a "terrier snapping at the heels of the establishment", and I know that hurts the owners of the heels. On a personal level I'm sorry for those I hurt who act honestly with the best interests of the ITIL commnity at heart. I hope you can believe that I respect what you have done with ITIL Version 3 - it isn't perfect and I don't agree with everything, but it is a magnificent body of work. Again, congratulations!
For those who act with selfish or corrupt motivations, I have no sympathy. The blog's primary purpose is not to expose you, but I don't mind if that is a secondary effect.
A comment on the IT Skeptic blog suggested I am obsessed with the ITIL Version 3 Launch. I replied:
I don't think I'm obsessed. I am, in effect, a journalist. Not that I chose to be but that is another story. There is a huge vacuum of open discussion and debate around ITIL that this blog seeks to fill. The Refresh is the big story, the topic on everybody's lips right now, so I report it. Or maybe I'm obsessed. Let the readers judge.That is this month's theme, transparency: whether it be transparency of the process of creating ITIL V3; transparency of the decision-making processes behind ITIL; transparency of the governance of the vested interests feeding off ITIL; or transparency of governance of the association which is supposedly owned by us, its members (even if it does not, by definition, exist to represent our interests).
I'd like to get onto some other topics actually but OGC and itSMF keep alternately leaving this void and then providing me all this great material. I look forward very much to the ITIL world becoming so boring that I can look at other topics on this blog, and go do a few other projects that might pay better :-)
You imply that I am delving into unimportant minutae. Tell that to the Japanese and the Canadians. I for one would be interested in the reasoning behind the change [of countries for the launch roadshow] and I bet they would too. It's called "transparency".
For those who wonder what the hell I am on about, go see if you can answer the following seemingly simple questions:
And the internet renders it impossible. I hope my blog will help prove that.
Editor's note: if you are new to the Skeptical Informer, the quirky nature pictures are in support of ITIL Version 3's nature-themed graphic designs
This month the activity on the blog has revolved around three things: CMDB (topic du jour for IT it seems); the scope of ITIL change management; and the looming release of the V3 Refresh.
I must say the big disappointment of the month is continuing reports of training vendors furiously making hay while the sun shines: flogging V2 training to people with narry a word about the implications of V3.
The root of the problem lies deeper, with OGC and APMG studiously ignoring the problem. Possibly this is because of all the politics and disruption surrounding the outsourcing of accreditation and certification to APMG, but that is a reason not an excuse. The fact is there has been a total failure of governance here, with not one jot of guidance from the organisation which has at least a moral responsibility for the best interests of the ITIL consumer: OGC.
Coming a close second in failure to act is of course itSMF, which is proving once again that it does not exist to represent the interests of its members. As I have pointed out in a recent ITSM-Watch article "The Pillars of ITIL", it doesn't even claim to do so, but I believe that would come as a surprise to many members.
And then tawdry third are the perpetrators themselves. It beats me how some people sleep nights, but then there are many more time-share and used-car sales people who don't look too tired either. At a bare minimum, all ITIL certification and training vendors should be pointing out to prospective clients that there is some uncertainty over the status of V2 qualifications after the V3 ones come out. Oh sure, sure, everyone bangs on about how they will still be "recognised". That's like saying that after a currency devaluation your peso is still a peso.
It now appears that you will have to do bridging training before your V2 certifications count as a prerequisite for any V3 ones. Any training vendor that fails to mention that is defrauding their customer through mis-quoting the true cost.
Right now your $10,000 V2 Manager's certificate will stand you in good stead when job hunting. But if the IT job market ever goes back to being competitive again then it will be another story.
And most of all, nobody knows what the status of V2 Practitioners' certificates will be, as the whole practitioner structure is being torn down and re-done. Selling Practitioners' certification right now without explaining that is simply dishonest. The IT Swami sees a few class actions next year.
As a product ITIL is a Good Thing. It works. It is useful. Heck, it is GREAT. And I'm hoping the V3 books will be even better. What alarms me more is the management of the ecosystem that has sprung up around the books. Right now parts of the ecosystem are polluted by:
The big news of the month for me was confirmation of the publication date for ITIL Version 3 - the Refresh. I have had a month of throwing stones at OGC, itSMFI, TSO, APMG, ISEB, and EXIN. They must be heartily sick of the IT Skeptic by now ... if they even notice. Actually I know at least some do because they have been in touch. This is even turning into a bit of a whistle-blower's site, and I don't have a problem with that. Tip-offs welcomed: if something to do with IT does not stand up well to close critical scrutiny, send it to skeptic@itskeptic.org and I'll let the sunshine in.
I promise it won't be like this every month for three reasons:
So start saving, girls and boys. Three hundred quid: that's two to six hours' pay for we consultants and no hours' pay for the people who get their boss to fork out for it. An interesting question is whether it is cheaper than ITIL 2 or not. The minimum ITIL (version 2) set of “the blue book and the red book” will set you back a cool six hundred bucks on CD ROM or half that on paper. The other books tend to run to about the same or a few for about half that much each. A full set of ITIL 2 would not leave much change out of a thousand British pounds on CD or a thousand US dollars on paper. ITIL 3 can be had as a set for three hundred pounds, but be careful of the comparison, as the core books are more focused in ITIL 3. I suspect you are more likely to need to purchase additional complementary publications to expand on them. This is still less than some of the proprietary frameworks and methodologies peddled by consulting firms, but certainly more than the free open content sources emerging from the Internet... and more than COBIT which is now freely available. Good on you ITGI/ISACA.
I do like the graphic design of the ITIL 3 books, with all the x-ray images of nature. Very nice. In fact this newsletter has a nature theme - if somewhat quirkier - to complement the new books.
And while the process has not been above criticism as you will see from some of the articles below, ITIL 3 still looks set to be a magnificent body of work.