Stuff your Customers - Following the itSMF Australia National Conference 2011

The itSMF Australia leadit conference was nothing short of fabulous this year; not least because it was held in my home city of Perth. There were many interesting breakout sessions, keynote speaker sessions, and discussions on the various subjects within the IT Service Management genre. Far from being the expected 'buy our wares' forum, this year's participants and attendants seemed very much to concentrate on the 'how to do IT well' subject. It warmed my heart to hear talk of leadership and good management, strategic thinking, agile pondering, and flexible learning.

Perhaps my biggest highlight was the 'flash mob' that attracted up to 30 participants during rehearsals and only a few dropouts on the day (injuries, fear of youtube, and generally being in the wrong place at the right time).

My biggest surprise was being awarded the Chairman's Prize for the presentation I delivered: 'Stuff your Customers, Feed your Staff'. Having hobbled about on an infected toe (and rather painful leg as a result), and being under the influence of a strong prescription at the time of said presentation, I was astounded that I made any sense at all, let alone that my leadership message was well received and enjoyed by many of the seventy-something attendees. Bless you all for your feedback, it means so much to me that you left the presentation with something meaningful; and many thanks to all of you who have found me to pass on your thoughts, and emailed me to provide further feedback on what you took from the presentation. I am humbled and honoured that you took the time to say such lovely things!

So it seems many of us are in want of better ways to be led and to lead. I am repeatedly asked for my opinion on whether good managers are necessarily good leaders. My answer is "not always; but a good manager will know who can lead and will place them in the right position when required." It is imperative that we accept that 'leader' does not mean 'hierarchy'. To be a leader, all one needs is a follower or two.

Now on to the subject of stuffing one's customers; this is meant in gastronomic terms, you understand. I am not one to endorse the activity of ordering one's customers to 'get stuffed', unless of course they are not committed to a project and are willing to point the finger of failure at anyone but themselves! Indeed 'stuffing' leaves one feeling more than satisfied. When one ventures to a quality eatery, one will leave the table utterly satisfied and unable to consider allowing another morsel between one's lips! And this is how our customers should feel, if, in fact, they are our customers (this statement was left hanging in the air by a guest speaker at the Conference; the magnificent Marcus Powe).

If IT Managers persist in offering the business IT staff who are wholly focussed on technology, know nothing about the business, and are so invested in 'fire-fighting' they bring a hose to work each day, what on earth are we actually serving our customers? It's very unlikely to be a satisfying plate.

IT staff members need to be nurtured. They need to feel like they are a part of the system that is the 'business', 'the enterprise', the organisation'.

Micro-management that starts as soon as the job interview is over, does not work, never has, and never will. But empowering those staff who wish (long) to be empowered, and guiding those who prefer to be led, is an essential habit to get into. Working with business units on those essential tools such as service catalogues, self-service capabilities, and service level agreements will turn frowns into smiles in no time at all.

Yes, I did say service level agreements (the dreaded SLAs) and I mean the 'proper' type, not the type that is written like a contract, is only about IT, and has lots of metrics and promised targets but cannot be backed up by existing measurement capabilities.

Don't get me started on Problem Management! Having a Service Desk call queue containing hundreds of logs, some dating back months, doesn't exactly give an enforcing message that 'we are serious about service management and the delivery of valuable outcomes'. In fact the only message this situation gives is that the managers have lost control, are not aligned with other business units, and lack leadership throughout their inevitable silos. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong in your case!

Let's get back to basics. Lose the ego, admit that we could be wrong.

Because...

We could actually be wrong.

Allow your staff to tell you where you're going wrong. Unfreeze the situation you are in, listen to what people have to say and start looking at the processes that each business unit follows in order to support the business. If you understand the business processes, you'll understand the people, and you'll understand the business priorities. This type of understanding is gold, my friends.

V.I.P. should not stand for Very Important People - no-one is that important throughout the whole business cycle. V.I.P. must stand for Very Important Process. That way, at the critical points in the business cycle, the critically important people will be protected and enabled should their process driver (our technology) fail them. Understanding at this level of the business will see your ITIL process maturities at a level 4 at least, and the same with your COBIT processes which are essential to support everything we do. Remember, you can't manage what you can't measure, and you can't measure what you can't manage - so you'll never know what the total cost of operations is, and you'll never know if you have a return on your investment.

Get your customers on board by allowing your staff members to put their skills and knowledge to work. Managers enable - and they look bloomin' good when their staff achieve great things!

Annamarie Boddy, Chief Lid Loosener, Loose Lid Solutions 23/08/2011