Blogs that appear below are published on the Optimal Service Management web site.
All blogs published on this site are licenced under CC BY-SA 4.0 
After you decide to adopt a process from ITIL® you can't just copy what the book says. You need to adapt the process to make it work in the context of your organization...
I suspect that every ITIL® training course uses the phrase “adopt and adapt” at some stage, but sadly I see very little understanding of what this phrase means. This lack of understanding often results in people trying to use the ideas from ITIL publications in a very bureaucratic way, imposing them indiscriminately and without due regard to the business context.
When did you last review how you allocate change authorities? If you have regular CAB meetings that discuss large numbers of changes then you're almost certainly doing something wrong.
RESILIA™ Cyber Resilience Best Practice was launched in June 2015. What is it and how is it different from all the other publications out there that tell you how to manage information security?
Many IT organizations have heroes that save the day when they are in trouble, but is this really what they need?
Last week, AXELOS announced their new ITIL Practitioner qualification. Here are my thoughts on whether we need another ITIL exam.
There was a discussion of “major problem reviews” on the Facebook back2ITSM group last week. Lots of questions were asked, and the Facebook format really didn't allow me to explain my viewpoint...
Service level agreements (SLAs) should help to improve services, by making sure that both the service provider and their customer are very clear about responsibilities and expectations. Unfortunately, many SLAs have very poorly thought out targets, and these can often result in the service provider behaving in ways that are the exact opposite of what the customer wants.
2014 was the first full year that I’ve worked as an independent consultant, trainer and author, and it’s been a very busy year...
Here's a list of all the blogs and white papers I've published since the end of 2013, so you can find articles that you might be looking for.
How to create simple definitions of risk appetite levels, and then assign these to each of your organization’s projects, services, business units or any other clearly identifiable part of your work.
Mentoring is a great way to develop both professionally and personally, and the mentor can gain as much from the relationship as the mentee. This blog gives an overview of how you can get started as a mentor, or as a mentee.
Have you tried mapping out your customers’ journeys? If not, then it’s an exercise well worth doing.