6 Reasons Why You’re Going Wrong With ITIL

The Common ITIL Newbie Mistakes

If I had a dollar for every time, I heard an IT professional say, “We tried ITIL, it didn’t work for us,”
or “ITIL didn’t help us”, then I’d be relaxing on a beach in Barbados rather than writing this blog in
between supporting my SysAid colleagues’ IT. If I then had another dollar for every time my
discussion with said IT professionals uncovered that they’d made one or more of the following
mistakes, then I’d be partying with Kanye West on my new boat somewhere in Barbados too.

These common newbie mistakes, although unfortunately they are not limited to newbies, include
believing in one or more of the following:

• “ITIL is a silver bullet.” I hate to break it to you, but ITIL isn’t going to solve all of your
issues, nor is it a “quick fix.” Yes, ITIL can provide significant value to your organization
but only if you approach it with the right mindset. You will automatically set yourself up
for failure if you think that it’s going to be the solution to all your IT and business woes.
ITIL won’t fix everything, but it will be able to help you if you take a pragmatic and
realistic approach to your ITIL activities.

• “It’s about adopting ITIL.” Wrong, it’s about improving the business – but at least this is
better than the phrase “implementing ITIL.” You don’t have to (and you shouldn’t) follow
the ITIL books word for word, forcing them into your organization like trying to squeeze a
jumbo jet into a shed. ITIL is a best practice framework, yes, but “best practice” might not
necessarily always be “best” for your business. One size doesn’t fit all, and you should
approach ITIL as a set of recommendations to guide you on how to best improve your
processes, IT operations, and business performance. You don’t have to adopt everything
ITIL says nor read the “ITIL mantra” out loud at 9am every morning before you start work.

• “It’s all about process improvement.” You’re not wrong here, unless of course you
think it’s ONLY about process improvement, because then we have a problem. ITIL is also
focused on technology, and more importantly PEOPLE. Don’t underestimate the breadth
and depth of organizational changes that utilizing ITIL will require across all three of:
people, process, and technology.

Ultimately, the way in which you approach ITIL makes a significant difference to whether you will
succeed or fail against your hopefully lofty ambitions. It’s not about replicating the ITIL books,
nor is it as easy as ABC. Instead, you need to take a considered approach and to keep an open
mind. Just because a best practice worked for the fictional character in your ITIL exam, it doesn’t
necessarily mean that it’s going to work in exactly the same way for you.
Misunderstanding ITIL

Sadly, many people can come away from their ITIL training and exams too bogged down in the
granularity of the processes, forgetting about the wider implications of ITIL and what it could
mean for their business. Here it’s important for IT professionals to remember that:

• ITIL isn’t a one-off project. It’s not something you “implement” over the course of three
months, check off as complete, and then walk away from. Nor is it self-sustaining.
Instead, ITIL is an on-going commitment. It’s vitally important for organizations to
continually revise, reassess, and improve the mix of people, processes, and technology to
ensure that their IT service delivery and support is what is needed to achieve business
goals. After all, there is an entire ITIL book dedicated to continual service improvement
that doesn’t get as much love as it should.

• You need senior-level buy-in to succeed with ITIL. Otherwise, you may as well be on
that beach with me in Barbados. Senior management needs to understand the value of
ITIL and be willing to help you deal with financial backing and any resistance you may
come across. You’ll need their backing and support to ensure that all IT employees take
the time to understand how the new ITIL-based processes will work, how they impact
them, and why change is required. Just because you’re all psyched up after your ITIL
course, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your senior management will be as enthusiastic
when you mention that scary phrase – “organizational change.”

• Unrealistic planning will most likely result in failure. Is that short ITIL adoption
window you’ve set yourself to introduce new technology and five new processes really
viable? Have you painted an overall vision for organization including short, medium, and
long-term goals for your ITIL “project”? Have you considered how your new processes will
link with existing processes both inside and outside of IT? Have you created a clear and
concise communication plan for both IT and end users? Have you thought about what
training is required – again for both IT and end users? So please, don’t set yourself up to
fail, instead plan carefully. It’s better that your “project” takes 12 months and is done
properly, than crammed into six months with a variety of issues, mistakes, and push-
back from the business.

Of course, there are more than six mistakes that you can make when it comes to ITIL but, for
me, these are six of the most important. So what would you add to my six?