Series
ITSM in Practice
A ten-part series on running modern IT service management in a cloud-native, agile, multi-framework world, from governance to service portfolios.
For years, ITSM has carried the baggage of thick binders, change advisory boards that meet once a month, and frameworks that feel like they were written for a world of mainframes and ticket queues. But the job hasn't gone away, it's changed shape. Today's IT organizations run in the cloud, ship on sprints, and answer to a business that expects speed without sacrificing reliability.
This series is my attempt to rebuild ITSM for that world: connective tissue between strategy and delivery, not a stack of approvals standing between them. Over ten parts, we'll work from first principles, the Service Value System, governance that moves with you instead of against you, through to the practical mechanics of service desks, infrastructure as a product, change enablement, configuration management, and how to package what IT delivers as an actual portfolio of services.
If you've ever felt the tension between "move fast" and "keep the lights on," this is for you. Each part builds on the last, but you can also drop in wherever your team is stuck today.
Parts
- 1
Why ITSM Still Matters in a Cloud-Native, Agile, Multi-Framework World
Technology is no longer a back-office function; it’s the front door to your customer, your employee experience, and your ability to scale.
- 2
The Service Value System: How to connect strategy to execution through value streams
Last week, we discussed why ITSM still matters in a world filled with sprints, pipelines, and cloud-native technology.
- 3
Governance Without Gridlock: Balancing agility and accountability in service delivery
But here’s the rub: even with strategy in place and value streams mapped, progress often grinds to a halt at the first sign of governance.
- 4
The Service Value Chain: Using Engage, Plan, Build, and Support to run your ops
But let’s be honest, even with clarity of purpose and the best-intentioned guardrails in place, delivery still breaks down when teams aren’t moving in sync.
- 5
Guiding Principles as Decision Filters: Making faster, more intelligent choices across teams
Sometimes you need to make a call right now, with half the information and zero precedent.
- 6
Modern Service Desk Operations: From ticket takers to business enablers
The service desk gets a promotion: how modern service desk operations move from ticket takers to business enablers.
- 7
Infrastructure as a Product: Treating core systems with the same rigor as software
For the past six weeks, we’ve explored the foundations of modern ITSM, from value streams and guiding principles to service desks and delivery chains.
- 8
Change Enablement in a DevOps World: Replacing fear of change with velocity and trust
We’ve spent the past seven weeks reframing how modern ITSM works, from infrastructure and service desks to principles, value streams, and product thinking.
- 9
Service Knowledge & Configuration: Building a system of record that helps
Building a service knowledge and configuration system of record that actually helps, after eight weeks on the pillars of modern ITSM.
- 10
Service Portfolios & Productization: Defining, marketing, and managing IT services
Ten weeks of rethinking IT not as a cost center, but as a strategic driver.