To all of the fans of Darwin who somehow became a member of the IT Service Management world: A series of observation s and perhaps a prediction or two…..
So, some would say that long ago we oozed out of the oceans and began to do things a little differently than we had for many millions of years before. For some, this is thought to have been a good thing. For others, there is some doubt as to the accuracy of this notion and the eventual consequences that this may have brought. Regardless of your position about these debated events, let’s ponder about the ramifications that may have resulted thereafter – in a technological vein.
From the briny shores we putted off to the tall grasses. Not too long later, we then took refuge in some lovely fruit trees – yes, a good location with access to convenient shopping and a view of the ocean we just came from (giving us the opportunity to feel superior to those lower life forms that hadn’t yet figured out that flippers could become legs). And eventually we migrated over to some very nice dry caves upon whose walls we could wax decoratively with impressionistic renderings of the Serengeti.
It was in the caves that we began to “think about things”, since we no longer had to focus on not falling out of the trees. As a general fact – to this day – that is still considered a bad thing to have done. Never-the-less, we started to think. And then we began to communicate. Once we began to communicate we began to disagree. . (Hmm…is this starting to sound analogous to the history of IT Service Management? No? It will. Keep going). Of course that led to the invention of armies and weaponry and consequently politicians and taxes. Yes….all havoc broke loose and we have never quite been able to recover. Ironically, throughout these events, the lower life forms with flippers that we once smugly scoffed at, looked at us from beneath their shimmering surfaced world and laughingly uttered, “foolish bipeds”!”
IT Service Management History Lesson
I’m certain that by now you can see that this is very much like the history of IT Service Management and the manner in which it has evolved over the years. Not buying the connection yet? OK – come with me for a bit of a comparative history lesson and we’ll see if I can’t change your mind…
When we first started toying with black-art of service delivery and service support, we didn’t even have a name for it. We just knew that we had a data center. And in that data center we had computers. And on those computers we had all kinds of data and fun new ways to manipulate that data. And sadly, we had these “people” that needed that data. Now, if we are completely true to our history and honest with ourselves, we also very well understood that given our technological capabilities at that time…the data and those “computer-thingies” were generally not available when those “people” (let’s call them users, shall we?) needed them. At this point you may ask, “Why is this? And how does that support those strange notions of Darwin’s theories?”
Think of it this way; we (the computer management and practitioner species of bipeds) had just learned the computer technology equivalent of Water Management: The basic premise is that if we could actually control the flow and quantity of water in a river, and create a reservoir, then we wouldn’t need to travel quite so far to go water sking.
And, of course, this is the same evolutionary equivalent of understanding that if we could somehow control the availability and management (and subsequent “user” expectations) of computers and the data that was manipulated by those computers (thus creating a notational sense of value of that data) then we could finally “communicate” how to properly manage a computer service. And we could do this while establishing a contractually binding set of guide-lines, practices, and processes upon which a governing set of rules and hoped-for levels of accessibility, reliability and data validity could be established. And of course, this is where it pretty much all fell apart….
Communication Matters
How did it fall apart, you may ask?
It fell apart because of communication. Again, if you look historically at where we perhaps did not do as well (as a species) as we could have, we repeatedly seem to not communicate as effectively as we should. The first attempts at communications between the IT departments and….those users… seemed to echo the same basic themes – repeatedly – and in many sad instances it went something like this:
User:
Hey, computer guys? This thing is broken again!
Computer Guy :
Really? Is your computer powered on? (Under his breath a barely auditable snicker and insult of “not this person again” was uttered).
User:
Yes – I did everything you told me to do the last time I called – and it still doesn’t work.
Computer Guy:
I don’t remember you calling earlier….
User :
I called six hours ago
Computer Guy :
Oh! That was the night shift operators….sorry… they didn’t say anything about this…they didn’t leave me any notes or anything…Are you sure you called? (Again, snickering at the immediately obvious lack of intelligence for which the sub-species “genus-user” is renowned)
User:
I don’t care who I called before – YOU need to come over here and fix this…NOW! (A barrage of dissatisfied rhetoric ensues…)
Computer Guy:
“Jerk!” (Said he, muttered under his breath) and off he went to once again provide service to genus-user in the vain hope that someday, in an idealist future, this particular species would become extinct.
- This event was not recorded.
- Nor were the previous twenty-seven identical incidents ever recorded.
- The computer guys’ restorative processes were not to be found in any form of documentation.
- And as an involuntary act of self-preservation (ah…the Darwinian angle once again) would the computer guy share his knowledge and expertise with any of his peers due to the ever-present and unspoken looming fear that if others had access to the treasures secluded within his grey matter then he would no longer be needed?
- Thus we were fated to repeat this scene of horror times unimaginable.
And now, perhaps we can see why our appreciation for communication is as important to us today as it was once underappreciated and discarded.
End of Part I
By: Christopher Williams