Tag Archives: ITSM

Converting a Budget Deficit Into an Innovation Surplus – USPS

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I’ve been meaning to write the blog, “I Left My Brain in San Francisco” for the last 2 weeks. Unfortunately, without a brain, it’s pretty hard to write a blog!  And I say that I left my brain in San Fran, because it was blown away by what I learned, saw and heard at the ServiceNow #Know14 conference.  What a great event they have grown into.  The line-up of presenters, topics, labs… it’s really a well orchestrated week, filled with learning and fun – two of my favorite things….

One of the BEST presentations was by the folks at the United States Postal Service, titled Converting a Budget Deficit Into an Innovation Surplus.

The title certainly caught my attention, and it sounded like it might be a little different from the other presentations, so I attended.  And man, am I glad that I did!

I am so impressed with their Service organization, and how in tune they are with their stakeholders and customers, that I reached out and asked if they would re-present for ITSM Academy’s June webinar… and they said YES 😉

So I am very happy to say;

Please join us for a complimentary webinar: Converting a Budget Deficit Into  an Innovation Surplus on Thursday, June 19th at 11am (Eastern) – Register 

Presenters: John Edgar, VP of IT and Kathleen A. Warnaar, Manager, Performance Achievement, United States Postal Service.

EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR BANNER June 2014“It’s no secret that the United States Postal Service operates under a stringent budget deficit, but what may surprise you is that the IT organization has converted that deficit into an innovation surplus. Join USPS, John Edgar, VP of IT and Kathleen Warnaar, Manager, Performance Achievement, as they discuss how they’ve been able to align IT as an enabler in support of a cross-organizational initiative focused on service, revenue and value transformation. Employing new strategies and approaches in service definitions and delivery, IT is successfully achieving operational efficiencies, cost savings and customer satisfaction. John and Kathleen will discuss how IT is reinvesting the savings delivered by their ITSM initiatives to drive additional innovations and automation across the enterprise.”

Have questions you want included? Post them on Twitter; #askITSM.

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Learning!

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Full Circle – from ESM to ITIL and Back Again

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I guess it means that I’m getting old… I can look back over my career now and see many things coming full circle.

As example, we just celebrated our 10th anniversary here at ITSM Academy.  Of course, we are much larger, with more robust processes in place (and 30,000+ Alumni!) But, with the introduction of our new Agile Service Management Line of Training, there are many parallels to when we originally launched our ITSM/ITIL Line of Training.

Earlier this month, I was fortunate to attend the ServiceNow Knowledge14 Conference, and that’s where it really hit me.  Several people talked to me about “Enterprise Service Management” and how that title needed to replace “ITSM”.  I don’t disagree, but it struck me as so funny.  10.5 years ago, I was an ESM Practice Manager, but got so much feedback that people didn’t know what that meant.  My favorite was, “Why would you call yourself that when your are the ITSM Practice Manager?” Based on that conversation, I did something as unethical as it gets here in LisaLand…. I went onto LinkedIn and changed my job title…(insert shocked face here!).

So what does this mean, this movement to (as one presenter called it) – Innovating Beyond ITIL: Enterprise Service Management.  Well, quite simply, it’s where we should have been 15 years ago.  The focus of ITSM / ITIL / ESM – whatever you want to call it – has to be outside of IT.  The focus of any successful (insert your letters of choice here) Program needs to be on;

  • the services we provide
  • the stakeholders we provide them to
  • the cultural change that needs to shift our IT organization into a service provider

One of the KPMG presenters said, “Innovate on ITIL, but don’t emphasize the IT in  ITIL”. Which will leave some feeling IL – LOL (sorry, couldn’t help it!)

KPMG also spoke a lot about Global Business Services.  I did a little follow up reading and, “Global Business Services (GBS) business operating model is poised to replace standalone outsourcing and shared services…with around 60 percent of the organizations embracing GBS over the next three years. The research also predicted that expenditure on external GBS is expected to nearly double-up to reach $73 billion in 2017 as against US$ 40 billion in 2013.”

arrows_tail_spin_multi_colored_400_wht_9654And to take us full circle now on this blog….I think, we are back to where we should have started 15 years ago.

I also think that getting older gives you some perspective that makes life more interesting…. but that will go full circle too.  One day, we won’t be able to remember any of this anyway.

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Circling!

New Courses at ITSM Academy – Scrum and DevOps

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itsmacademy_smallWe have been working (tirelessly!) on our newest Line of Training – Agile Service Management®, and are continuing to add new courses to our portfolio.  We are thrilled to announce the following courses:

  • DevOps Overview – 4 hour virtual class, introducing concepts of DevOps. February 28 (with many more options to come), virtual classroom.
  • DevOps Fundamentals – 2 day certification course, provides attendees the ability to formulate a high-level strategy and action plan for adopting DevOps in their organization.  April 7-10, virtual classroom.
  • Certified ScrumMaster – 2 day certification course, which we are delivering in partnership with a leading Rep of the Scrum Alliance.  March 17-18 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
  • Agile Service Management: Applying Scrum to Process Design – 5 hour virtual class. Coming soon.

For more information on these courses, or to register, please visit our website.

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Learning!

Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) Round Table

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CSM Round Table

Join us for a complimentary webinar: Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) Round Table on Thursday, February 20th at 11am (Eastern) – Register

Everyone is talking about Agile and Scrum. But how does Agile apply to service management and DevOps?

Spend some time with two of our ITSM Academy Certified ScrumMasters, Donna Knapp and Jayne Groll, as they share their insights and advice on how Agile can improve IT’s velocity and Time to Value.

Have questions you want included? Post them on Twitter; #askITSMscrum @ITSMAcademy.

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Learning!

Hey, There is Something to this ‘Agile’ Thing

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A few months ago, several of the ITSM Academy team (including yours truly), earned our Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) Certificates.  While Scrum – and Agile – are typically utilized for software development projects, we quickly realized a lot of the knowledge and tools that can be applied to any project type.

Here at the Academy, we’ve undertaken one of the biggest projects we’ve ever tackled. We are standing up a Learner Portal, www.my.itsmacademy.com.  This portal will touch every line of business, and is a huge value-add for our learners.  To learner more about it, please click here.

When we came home from our Scrum training we were, “hot and happy and ready to go”. We were planning on applying our new skills to the Learner Portal project.  But then the real world reared its head and we didn’t immediately, or correctly, begin applying the knowledge.

I’ve said, since we started the company, that we will never use that terrible expression about the Cobbler not being able to fix his own kids shoes.  Based on this, and our desire to recoup our return on investment, we knew we had to buckle down and built a plan.  So that’s what we did.

We didn’t start fully, we probably didn’t even start “right”… but we started.

We identified our first Sprint – and have been running ever since! With each Sprint retrospective, we take the time to improve the way we are using Agile and our Sprints.

The result has been that we are getting more “ship-able products” to market.  These include (but are not limited to 🙂

So, in a nutshell, Agile is keeping the Academy rolling at a brand new speed!  We are excited to introduce the courses above, which will help our clients and alumni start Sprinting too 😉

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Sprinting!

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My.ITSMAcademy.com – Learner Portal

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Over the last several weeks, ITSM Academy has begun introducing / beta testing our new learner portal; my.itsmacademy.com. The portal extends the classroom experience by providing access to online content and tools to further educate and inspire learners.

Using my.itsmacademy.com: myitsmacademy

  • Increases preparedness
  • Enhances retention
  • Supports exam preparations (where applicable)
  • Provides value-add resources
  • Expands access to our community of experts and peers

The goal of my.itsmacademy.com is to provide the most efficient and effective learning experience. Whether a learner is participating in a traditional classroom, or joining us in one of our virtual classrooms, they have access to their learning portal.

By including an online component to our education strategy, our learners can actively participate in class preparation, attendance, and have post class access. This blended strategy increases the long-term sustainability of their ITSM education.  Attributes include:

Accelerated Learning

  • Increase retention and enable exploration through the use of guided online supplemental instruction (learning labs); labs can be completed at a time convenient for the learner
  • Traditional Classroom: Extend the learning experience by providing access both pre-and-post class
  • Virtual Classroom: Improve the impact and flexibility of virtual instruction; enabling learners to balance their workload and class requirements

Multi-media Learning

  • Maximize learner engagement by addressing varying learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic)
  • Increase learners’ ability to learn anywhere and at any time through the use of mobile devices

Data-driven Decisions

  • Gauge and increase learner retention by using embedded assessments and ITSM Academy’s Game On! An Interactive Learning Experience
  • Enable self-directed learning by providing learners unlimited access to supplemental online resources

Critical, Action-oriented Thinking

  • Supplement classroom lecture with online tools that include hands-on assessments and exercises
  • Learning labs support Bloom’s foundational levels of understanding and remembering
  • Peer group collaboration projects further promote critical thinking
  • Personal Action Plans inspire learners to identify improvement opportunities based on what they are learning throughout the class

We are so excitedFreeStuff to roll out the new Learner Portal, that we’ve pre-loaded it with tons of Free Stuff.  

Feel free to go visit today, and start your exploration of the cool stuff we’ve already loaded – with tons more to come!  

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Exploring!

The Beauty of Buying

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Once, many (many) years ago, I heard or read a sentence that has had a powerful impact on my professional life.  I’m sorry I don’t remember where it came from, because I would love to give credit where it is due, but I just don’t remember….

But the truth in this sentence is powerful in its simplicity.  “People love to buy stuff, but they hate being sold to”.

Think about that for a moment.  Close your eyes and recapture the excitement you felt the last time that you purchased something you were excited about.  The adrenaline rush you got when you made the “buy” decision.  I don’t care if it was a new purse, a car, a techno-gadget, etc.

Now, rethink that experience if you were being hounded by a sales person, who was trying to shove it down your throat.  You might not have purchased it.  If you did, their bad actions would have diminished the thrill of the purchase.

Our Vision at ITSM Academy is, “To be the first call every ITSM professional makes when contemplating training”.

Our Mantra, “It’s easy to buy from us”.

I think you see where I’m going with this.

For those lucky enough to have jobs centered on helping folks buy stuff – when done correctly – we get to share in their purchase high.  As an added bonus for us here at the Academy, we get to assist them in buying something that will actually help improve their jobs.  Even better, when they take the best practices back and start the cultural change needed to morph their IT shops into a service organization, we have the ability to positively impact thousands of people each year. 

How cool is that?  #ILoveMyJob

And all of us are sales people.  Even if your job has nothing to do with sales or marketing, you spend part of your day selling something to someone.  Whether it a new idea to your boss, convincing your husband to try a new restaurant, your kids to eat their vegetables, (I could go on and on, but I won’t).  I am convinced that there is at least one daily interaction in everyone’s life, where you are selling to someone.  So remember, don’t sell it to them, help them buy it 😉

Until your next trip to LisaLand…Happy Buying!

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