OK, that’s the French exhausted. Translated it means, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Why did this strike my fancy this week? Well I guess it was triggered by the offer from TSO for a trial access to ITIL on-line.
As I was browsing the site, I came across an article from Rosemary Gurney about ITIL qualifications written as V3 was being launched and before the new qualification scheme had been developed. One item that she describes is how surveys had shown some confusion about the scope and purpose of the V2 Practitioners and that “perhaps the current format is too focused on the ITIL books and exams”. If you read any of my blogs, you’ll know that this is exactly what I believe all the V3 qualifications have become! If there was this perception, it seems staggering that an even worse situation has developed.
But this isn’t the only example. Many of my blogging colleagues have written recently about Cloud Computing, some with more sense and pragmatism than others. Actually Cloud Computing in various guises and formats has been around for ages, so it isn’t exactly new as a broad concept, though some specifics of what is on offer these days may well be.
Every time some new technology or idea comes along, “experts” rush to extol its virtues and how it will change the world. Mainframes and their supposed death; distributed computing; the inexorable rise of the internet; thin client; hierarchic databases being superseded by relational databases in turn replaced by object-oriented architecture – the list is endless. Sometimes these technologies do indeed enable change, but in many cases the impact is far less than is touted. And for service management, the most fundamental principles remain unaltered. The mechanics of what we need to manage and/or the tools that enable us to do so may change but the processes remain essentially the same.
The questions that are raised today by those new to service management and ITIL are the same as were raised in the early ‘90s. Where do I start? (It still depends!) What qualifications do I need? Where can I get books cheaply? What tool should I buy? Should I buy the tool first and engineer my processes around it or vice-versa? What benefit/value does ITIL provide? Sure we get a few new ones such as is ITIL “better” than COBIT, ISO/IEC 20000, CMMI for services, etc? But essentially people struggle with the same issues. And that is because no matter what any book says, each enterprise has to develop the solution that is right for them just as each individual needs to pursue a path of education that is relevant to their needs and aspirations.
It isn’t just in service management that this occurs. Take the following headlines:
Financial crisis rock the market
Terrorist strikes at the heart of the empire
Health scare sparks panic
New invention “will change the world”
Nature unleashes its fury
You could pick almost any decade in the history of the world and find specific examples that would fit these generic statements: the 17th century South Sea bubble, the dotcom boom, the banking crisis; the Mau Mau uprising, IRA bombs, Al Qaeda; 1918 flu pandemic, SARS, bird flu; industrial revolution, the internal combustion engine, computers; hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis.
So, if you are constantly assailed by a feeling of déjà vu, don’t be surprised, because the same old things really do keep coming around again.
Any feedback and comments are always welcome!!
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