Service Delivery and Service Automation

On Thursday I attended the latest itSMF e-symposium 'Service Delivery and Service Automation' (the presentations will be available from the archive in a couple of days if you missed it). There were four presentations, each of which seemed to skew more towards either the 'Service Delivery' element or the 'Service Automation' element. They were:'

- 'The Strategy for Success' by Chris Dowding of Fox IT
- 'How to create an automated Service Management structure in line with business need' by Jack Robertson Worsfold of Icore
- 'Building a foundation for an effective approach to process automation' by Chip Mason of IBM
- 'For the Customers ........ we change and automate' by Matthew Burrows of BSMImpact

I thought the most useful of the four was the third presentation by Chip Mason although there were a few things in each of the others that made it worthwhile. So if you only have time to listen to one - make it his. In the main, the e-symposium confirmed that I'm heading the right way with our soon to actually happen (maybe? hopefully? !) ITSM Programme in terms of definition of services and workflow to automate delivery of said services where possible.

As with the last event, I will post my key learning points from each presentation over the next two blog entries covering two presentations in each as well as detailing the Q&A.

Just a note about the facilitation by Mike Simons of Computerworld UK... better than the last in that we actually got comfort breaks this time (much appreciated). However, when it was clearly not an appropriate forum to be asking presenters for their recommendations on ITSM and workflow tools - why put them in the awkward position of asking? Far better I think to acknowledge the volume of requests, state that it was not an appropriate forum for vendor recommendations and refer people to the itSMF discussion or private e-mails (which happened with each but why put 3 of the 4 presenters through the question?).

What does it mean to be a Service Delivery Manager?

Over the past 2 years I've been thinking that we could really use a Service Delivery Manager where I work. Curiously enough, it turns out that the new Technical Operations Manager thinks so as well and sees the role as fundamental to contributing to the overall strategy for service provision. So he asked me to write a paper outlining my strategy for service provision over the coming years. Great, except that as the reporting lines have not yet been resolved my line managers are reluctant to let me spend any time researching and writing the report as it will take away from the day job. A fair point, but should I really be doing this in my own time and not being paid for it? Part of me says 'no' - it is for work to benefit therefore I should continue to maintain my work/life balance. Another part says that it is a missed opportunity for me personally if I do not.

Anyhow... all of this has me wondering 'What does it mean to be a Service Delivery Manager?' I believe it is more than service level management as defined by ITIL, and it should include service introduction management. I'd like to write a job description and person specification, so, as a starting point, started trawling job adverts only to find there is a wide range of views. Over the next week or so I'm throwing the question open to the rest of you. I'll write up my answer in a couple of weeks incorporating your views, and although it may not be definitive - hopefully it will be a reasonable answer to an important question.