Have you ever found yourself trying to explain the ITIL Service Lifecycle to someone that is not “IT-savvy”? Or maybe they are, but don’t understand the end-to-end development, delivery, and support of IT services in general. If you’ve found yourself either working on an ITSM engagement or providing training to a group of professionals that are learning about ITSM and the ITIL framework, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
While in a meeting with an executive, who wasn’t familiar with managing services for the IT organization, I was asked to give a “non-IT” example that would help him understand the ITIL Service Lifecycle. This executive didn’t have a good grasp on what goes on within the IT organization but still had a stake in its success. This particular organization had a strong desire to provide quality services to its users/customers and improve their image through the use of best practices and an industry recognized ITSM framework (ITIL). However, those who would be sponsoring and pushing the improvements that would come from adopting best practices wanted to feel confident when talking about the activities that were occurring throughout the organization.
So there was my challenge. Provide a “non-IT” example of the ITIL Service Lifecycle to a “non-IT” executive. A great example that came to mind, that I feel everyone can relate to, was the experience and activities that take place when dining in a restaurant. By the way, for the purposes of this example, I’m referring to a sit-down restaurant that provides a menu and a waiter to accept and deliver your requests made from their menu of offerings. Not that this doesn’t apply to McDonalds or Burger King, I just want you to picture yourself sitting in your favorite fine dining restaurant and follow me as I walk through this “non-IT” example that I will tie directly to the ITIL Service Lifecycle. Now, walk with me into your favorite restaurant and lets take a seat…
Before we get started, if you don’t already know, the ITIL Service Lifecycle consists of 5 stages (or sometimes referred to as phases). They are: 1) Service Strategy, 2) Service Design, 3) Service Transition, 4) Service Operations, and 5) Continual Service Improvement. As we progress through this experience, we will tie restaurant examples to each of the lifecycle stages. Also, for the following examples, we will refer to our restaurant as “Harbaugh’s” (The owner is Jim). Can you tell which NFL team I like? Ok, lets get started.
Interested in learning more? I’ll continue to tie these examples together as we make our way through the Service Lifecycle ending with Continual Service Improvement. Stay tuned through the next few weeks to see how our dining experience is made possible through the implementation and management of quality services (and dining experience) at Jim Harbaugh’s restaurant. Read More