Simplicity

Inherent in the idea of Core ITSM is the concept of simplicity. There are two books I love on the subject: De Bono's "Simplicity" and "Simple Heuristics that make us smart" by Gigerenzer & Todd.

Too often in the IT world, particularly the ITIL version, we make things more complicated than they need to be. I don't need a complex process map for customer relationship management if I am close to my customers and users and internalise their needs.

Talk to users and often you'll find very quickly that two things bug them the most: Delays to basic tasks such as setting up new users, and problems with printers. The solutions in both cases are usually simple.

Simple doesn't mean easy though, at least not to begin with. The solution to sluggish work requests typically means certain support groups having to relinquish old ways of prioritising work.

I wonder if a lot of the complications we see in "process driven" IT shops are actually the result of people trying to avoid facing up to the need for a simple solution?