[Video] 5 Questions about Agile Service Management - answered

Do you have questions about moving to more Agile Service Management, and the implications of doing so? Consultant Bas Blanken - author of our Agile Service Management e-book and several blog posts on the topic shares his wisdom in this video.

You may need to turn on subtitles, depending on your Youtube settings, as Bas is speaking in Dutch. 

Looking for more on Agile Service Management? 

In our free e-book, you'll find out everything you need to know about Agile Service Management. You'll learn how agile relates to ITIL, how to put Agile Service Management in practice, and what the pitfalls are for a transition to an agile way of working.

Video Transcript

What is Agile Service management?

Agile service management is service management as we’ve known it for years, with the Agile philosophy applied to it. In my opinion, four principles are very important to keep in mind: number one is focus on customer value. Let people get the best out of themselves. Dare to experiment in all you do. But also provide an environment where that is possible.

Will Agile and ITIL go together?

In all ITIL processes you implements, you make the choice between control on the one hand and flexibility on the other. In this case, you should always choose flexibility in your processes, more than you would have done with a strictly classical ITIL implementation that is for sure.

Will Agile Service Management put an end to ITIL? Read it in my blog »

Will Agile replace my incident management?

Agile won’t replace your incident management. But Agile might show you more concepts and ideas, to improve your incident management. We’ll check if all the steps I take do add value for the customer. A typical Agile idea is working with interdisciplinary teams. Try to bring the knowledge of the front and back office together, to improve the customer service.

Can I make change management more Agile?

Making your change management more agile will be quite hard work. Change management on its own is a complex process. In many organization it slowly has become a quite rigid structure. Registering a Request for Change takes a lot of time, analyzing the same RFCs will take a long time, and the change process is usually a slow one-way process. 

You can definitely learn some lessons from Agile to improve that process. Remember to not create a full, detailed plan from proposal to implementation that is completely stuck and has no flexibility at all. Don’t pull all the work in RFCs that still needs to be analysed, first take a look at what the business actually wants. As an IT department, give those issues prioritization. And put energy in what is most beneficial for the whole organization.

Read how to implement Change Management in an agild way »

Where do I start when I want to do something with Agile?

If you want to use Agile to improve your service management, my most important advice is: don’t make it too big of a project straight away. Dare to experiment is an important principle – so do that. Do small experiments with the Agile methodology and improve your service delivery step-by-step. And above all: just dare to do it.

My most important advice when starting with agile: don't make it too big.