Core ITSM: Something Pink

One of the things I love, as we often commented on in the days of the late lamented Rest of the World podcasts, is that all the conferences and shows we go to seem to find their own sweet spot. So I was delighted this year to be once again enjoying the unique experience that is the Pink Elephant Conference in Las Vegas.

Big Thoughts

This year the twelve hour flight out there was made even more worthwhile by my participation in the Pink Think Tank on multi-supplier integration. I'll blog more on that latter, and myself and the other members will be producing thought leadership artifacts over the coming months. Suffice to say it was a real joy to be in the same room with such luminaries as:

Troy DuMoulin
Rob England
Charles Betz
David Cannon
Karen Ferris
Charles Araujo

Sadly Rodrigo Flores couldn't join us in the end, whilst Jack Probst kept us all in order as the facilitator.

You can see our initial presentation here but there is a lot more to come.

Big Themes

I think we chose the right topic for the Think Tank because it resonated with many of the big messages that were floating around the Bellagio. Having said that other blogs have picked up other themes and messages, so perhaps I have a selective perception. Be that as it might, here is my top 10 list:

The business are looking for proof that IT is delivering value
Enterprise IT lacks the skills to deliver that value or to prove it is delivering value
Suppliers are both commoditizing non-value adding services, including the basic ITIL processes and building value based relationships with the business
Shadow IT within the business is taking various forms
Enterprise Governance of IT remains weak
ITIL remains useful but to deliver value the emphasis has to shift to those parts of ITIL that have been largely, ignored such as service strategy
High level supplier management is key to success, but too often is lacking
Multiple frameworks, tools and methodologies need to synthesized rather than indulging in framework wars
Culture trumps everything in 8
We can't do this on our own, we need to reach out to developers, suppliers, architects, and, most of all, the business

Big People

We are lucky to be part of an industry where so many people are willing to share their thoughts and experiences with others and to do so expecting nothing back in return except a willingness to do the same.

The list of great people I've met for the first time at Pink conferences is a long one and if were to attempt to name them all I would be bound to leave out someone.

Suffice to say though that conversations in the bars and in the networking events are a key part of Pink and this year discussion topics included the role of universities in developing a new generation of IT managers and the future of SM Congress. Once again SocMed played a big role in facilitating some of those conversations and once again the Twittersphere also did a good job of keeping people aware of what was going on in the sessions, especially those who could not attend in person.

Big Hearts

Also brilliant for those not able to attend the event is the now well established practice of streaming the keynote sessions at Pink. Personally I enjoyed all of them but the most powerful were those that dealt with human issues, be it Adrian Gostick on the importance of motivating staff, Caroline Casey on overcoming personal difficulties or Cmdr Hadfield on the effort needed to reach into space. On several occasions large parts of the audience were reduced to tears. I just hope we can all take some of that emotion back to the workplace and put it to practical, life enhancing, use