Change Management Training Workshop - Phase 1

Hoorah!  On Wednesday afternoon I delivered a change management (based on ITIL) training workshop to the IT managers of multiple councils as they are working in partnership to deliver shared IT services.  I spent quite a lot of time preparing the materials for it as, knowing my audience, I wanted to be sure I had things they could take away and refer to when I'm not around and to consider which questions were likely to arise that I would need to answer.  The training packs were made up of some change management basics, process framework document, process diagrams, copy of presentation slides and a little 7Rs of Change Management laminated card.

I'd originally scheduled 3 hours for the session to allow for lots of discussion (again, knowing who would be present).  I surprised myself by keeping everyone on-track so that we actually finished in just over 2 hours.  I think this was due to a few factors,  My preparation headed off potential questions and that facilitation training continuing to pay off (thank you Cathy) ;)  My agenda for the afternoon was:

1. Purpose of session
2. Presentation - 'Let's Have Some Change Management - with a Dash of Pragmatism'
3. Normal Change Process (using process framework documentation)
   
4. Emergency Change Process (using process framework documentation)
5. Exercices (1: Name that change 2: Roleplay an emergency change with some curveballs throw in)
   
6. Wrap-up Discussion
   
7. Feedback forms (I believe in self-improvement)
   

I was expecting quite a hard time from some of them - so I was pleasantly surprised that each manager present was taking notes and asking pertinent questions.   The only negative feedback I had was that some of them think we should wait until we have the new ITSM tool in place before introducing change management.  As all you ITSMers out there will know it's crucial to get the process agreed, documented and tested before implementing it in a tool - so I'm not too concerned about this point (although it certainly would be great if a more appropriate tool were in place to support the process in the meantime (and no - this is not an invitation for vendor spam thanks!).

Only time will tell how effective or not the workshop was.  The next stage is rolling out training to all the IT staff.  It certainly achieved it's objective in educating them in the basics of change management, terminology, process, etc.  One of the feedback forms actually showed that they thought they knew a lot going into the session, then coming out realised how much they didn't know and have yet to learn ;)

It's times like this that I wish I would be there for the duration of the journey - letting go is never easy is it?

All change... and introducing change

As those of you who have been here awhile will know, I've been trying to get an ITSM Programme going at my organisation for some time.  I finally get the budget and the buy-in, and submit the mandate for approval to the board only for me to go and get another job.  My timing is impeccable.  I'm finding it quite difficult to let go as I still have this wonderful vision in my head that I want to make a reality.  Anyhow, as that isn't going to happen time to replace it with a new vision - but I digress.

Some months ago I was tasked with quickly introducing change control ahead of change management as part of the approved ITSM Implementation Programme.  As you can imagine, I wasn't keen on doing this as I wanted it to be done in a properly managed way - however the business need was and continues to be there so I threw something together (through workshop with other key managers).  They specificially didn't want a lot of documentation so two sides of A4 had to suffice.  As predicted, confusion reined for people failed to understand what it was all about, how and when to use it, etc.  What did they expect without allowing time for training or enough documentation to provide the detail required?

Anyhow, one of my tasks before I head off is to train the IT managers in the basics of change management and teach them how and when to use our revised new change management process (only covers normal and emergency changes in an initially small scope).  I spent today fleshing out the document with sufficient detail to address the questions they already have and those that will be asked and preparing some training packs and little laminated cards that they can stick by their PCs.  Tomorrow I aim to finish the presentation that will go with it all because I'm delivering it on Wednesday afternoon!  I'll let you know how it goes...

All change...

Due to some changes in real life I shall be updating on Wednesdays and Saturdays instead of Tuesdays and Fridays.  That way, I really have no excuse not to post more regularly!

I recently applied for a new role and was successful so real life is somewhat busy for me at the moment as I deal with the transition.  I am still working in local government with partnerships and shall be focused more upon project management and business transformation through IT for the foreseeable future instead of pure IT service management.  No doubt, the nature of my future posts shall reflect this.

It's a wonderful opportunity to put some of that self-study for Prince 2 into practice on a larger scale than previously (although applied with a heavy dose of pragmatism!).  No doubt there shall be challenges ahead and I'm looking forward to figuring out how to deal with them - hopefully coming out the other side unscathed!

Pssst... the 2008 edition of the PMBA is live!

I don't get a lot of time to just sit and read - I tend to have an average of three books on the go at any one time and most of that time they are books related to industry, business, and personal development.  With so many books out there on various topics it's hard to know which ones to spend my valuable time on.  I came across PMBA (Personal MBA) by Josh Kaufman awhile back and wanted to share it with you.  It's fundamentally a reading list of 77 of the best business books currently in print.  The premise is that you may not be able to afford a MBA course but you can borrow books from the library like Good Will Hunting and put what you read into practice.

The new 2008 list is now out.  If you are already familiar with the previous list, check here for new additions.  Personally I'm glad to see 'Presentation Zen' on there as I love the website and the reappearance of 'Getting Things Done' which I try to live by.

If you are feeling rich you can buy the "PMBA Complete Business Library".  If you already have some of the books in the PMBA you can use the "Batch Book Buyer" to only select the ones you want.

Get out in the garden and enjoy a good read!

Virtual Teams - where to start?

The answer is in an excellent blog that has been going since November 2007 yet I've only recently discovered it. 
As they rightfully state:

'Leaders of a virtual team face many challenges when leading a virtual team, including team building, motivating and developing team members from afar, rewarding team members even when they have no authority over their pay, and facilitating shared leadership and team learning. When virtual teams don’t succeed in meeting these challenges, they run over budget and miss important deadlines besides creating frustration and dissatisfaction among team members.'

Their blog's mission is to help us learn about about virtual teams and what it takes to effectively lead them.  Over the months their articles reflect their own experience as well as commentary upon scientific research.  Subjects include virtual teams, leadership, collaboration, and computer-mediated communication (i.e., communication through email, instant messaging, discussion boards, video-conferencing, wikis, blogs, and virtual worlds).

Leading Virtually is well and truly on my subscription list; if you have an interest in virtual teams then I recommend you add it to yours!

ITIL v3 books - 1st impression amendments

I've seen comments in forums about issues with the 1st impression of the core v3 books and the inconsistencies across them.  I'd also heard that there were some amendments available but they aren't exactly widely advertised - if you can find the pointer on the OGC site please let me know!  So, if like me you bought a set at launch, be sure to download and print these amendments.

• Service Strategy
• Service Design
• Service Transition
• Service Operation
• Continual Service Improvement

ITIL Live Portal - what DID they promise anyway?

Well, this business has bugged me so much that I went back and checked 'The Official Introduction to the ITIL Service Lifecycle' found the following on page 7:

"1.6.3 ITIL web support services
These products are online, interactive services including a Glossary of Terms and Definitions, Interactive Service Management Model, online subscriber services, case studies, templates and ITIL Live (www.itil-live-portal.com), an interactive expert knowledge centre where users can access time with ITSM experts to discuss questions and issues, and seek advice."

Let's go through these services one by one.

• A Glossary of Terms and Definitions - Freely available on OGC Best Management Practice site
• Interactive Service Management Model - currently the demo available on ITIL LIVE PORTAL which is hosted by TSO
• Online subscriber services - Well... seems this is being tied in with the ISMM above.
• Case studies - Where? These hardly count...
• Templates - Also being tied in with the ISMM which will be a subscriber service.
• ITIL Live (www.itil-live-portal.com) - Subscriber service
• Interactive expert knowledge centre - Where? Is this supposed to count?

Due to the use of commas in the text, I interpreted the statement as meaning that there will be online subscriber services but because they were listed separately to others that they were NOT the same as the ITIL Live OR the 'Interactive Service Management Model'.  Seeing as the currently ITIL Live Portal demo IS an Interactive Service Management Model it makes me wonder if we'll be expected to subscribe for the other web services that I understood to be free.  Is the misinterpretation all down to the use of grammar - or did they really mean to mislead us?  It seems I'm not the only one who was under this misapprehension either... check out The IT Skeptic.