Welcome to ITSM Manager, an endeavor that first began as a series of casual conversations and luncheon meetings in 2008 among friends who had come to know each other over the course of years of interaction in the IT Service Management community. These conversations always evolved, of their own accord, into recurrent themes, among them:

• What we have seen and done with ITSM in various companies and organizations
• The perennial struggle in translating the "what" of best-practice into the "how" of running IT as a business
• Similar mistakes or misinterpretations that we have seen repeated over and over again that slowed, stalled, or outright undermined ITSM adoption

Who We Are

We are Mart Rovers, Bryon Zimpfer, and Ed Williams. We've been involved in IT management for many years—collectively, almost 70 years—and have hands-on track records with businesses ranging from entrepreneurial start-ups, to mid-size organizations, to extensive experience with multiple Fortune 500 companies and global enterprise operations. We've held not just senior IT management positions, but business leadership roles up to and including CEO.

Our practical ITIL® experience alone totals almost 30 years, and all of us were ISO/IEC 20000 early-adopters. In fact, among us, we hold almost every ITSM-related certification available today...plus some in other methodologies and practices, including: ITIL, ISO 20000, ISO 27001, COBIT®, CMMI, Project Management Institute (PMP®), and Lean Six Sigma. All of us have served as officers and board-of-directors members for various entities of the itSMF (IT Service Management Forum), and currently sit together on the board of the ISO/IEC 20000 Special Interest Group. We are frequent speakers at ITSM events, and write regularly on the subject from whitepapers to books.

Why We're Here

Those recurring, conversational themes led us to decide that there was a need in the ITSM landscape that we could help fill. It was obvious that—across geographies and market segments and organizations of all sizes—there were repetitive questions, concerns, and speed bumps along the ITSM road. And while the best-practice frameworks are pertinent for and adaptable to any organization, every company's implementation is unique.

Our goals are to:

• Be a preferred source of unbiased, practical, and pragmatic IT Service Management information
• Span all major theoretical frameworks and auditable standards
• Help apply ITSM to the reality of running IT as a business
• Save other practitioners time and trouble by exposing oft-repeated mistakes and delays
• Give back to the ITSM community

What We're Doing

Anyone can buy and study the five ITIL core books, the ISO standards, or any other framework or method. We recognize that many in our audience will have advanced certifications in ITSM and aren't looking for yet more discussion of the basics.

Instead, we provide observations from the inside looking out, not vice versa. We are vendor- and framework-neutral, and offer realistic information about what works...as well as expose repeatedly-seen mistakes and misunderstandings. We:

• Draw on our extensive real-world experience
• Leverage our knowledge of multiple best-practice platforms and methods
• Provide convenient access to information in easy-to-manage chunks
• Offer information that is vital to all ITSM practitioners
• Address all levels of the business organization

What You'll Get

We make information available in small, quickly-assimilated portions because we know you're busy and your time is valuable. Think of us as your ITSM eConsultant®: insight provided a la carte, when you want it, without the expense of a live-in consultant.

Biweekly Podcasts

Geared to be 20 to 40 minute conversations you can listen to on your drive to work, these will vary in format from interviews to panel discussions. The industry-standard MP3 files are available free on our Website or syndicated at iTunes.

Personal Blogs

Sometimes, a thought or comment doesn't fit into the podcast schedule...and simply can't wait. The blogs allow us to reach out with a written piece or an audio blog whenever we want, and from wherever we might be in our travels.

Free Members' Area

Registration is free, and it assures us we have real, live, ITSM practitioners visiting, not Internet 'bots looking to download anything they can find. In the Members' Area are:

• Podcasts in both playable and downloadable forms
• Handouts to accompany each podcast
• An archive of all previous podcasts
• The ability to suggest topics and ask questions
• An ITSM knowledgebase
• Extras: whitepapers, presentations, articles

 

Thanks for joining us, and welcome to ITSM Manager!