I have been providing services based on kanban for several years now. Surprisingly, when asked if they are interested in kanban, many people respond that it doesn’t concern them. Why do I say, “surprisingly?” Because it is hard to imagine a situation where using kanban would not provide very important and durable improvements. So, to […]
knowledge work
The 5 S and Service Management
Are the 5 S applicable to service management? What could the 5 S, originating in the management of the workplace in a factory, mean for service management? The 5 S are generally represented in English as Sort, Systematic Arrangement, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. These terms are derived from the Japanese Seiri ( 整理 ); Seiton […]
Collaboration Maturity Levels
In my posting on a Continual Improvement Maturity Model, I invited readers to help expand and improve the model. Rob Worth made the excellent suggestion that such a model should also include an axis of collaboration, in addition to the other axes described there. He proposed a description of the various levels. Inspired by Rob’s […]
Organizing for Kanban
When Kanban decides against lower lead times Certain organizations applying Kanban principles may choose not to include IT operations specialists in cross-functional teams, on the assumption that it would be very hard to keep such specialists busy. These organizations prefer, instead, to group the operations specialists in their own teams, thereby increasing the risk that […]
Case vs. Process is a matter of scope, innovation and maturity
First, a reminder about why processes are used Perhaps the most important contribution of ITIL V2 to the realm of IT service management was its emphasis on working according to well defined processes. This contribution has undoubted merits, although its unthinking, blanket adoption has come under considerable criticism. Be that as it may, the fundamental […]