To continue what I discussed in my last post, “learning at the speed of change” is a reference to the fact that change is the only constant and the speed of change is increasing. The speed with which an organization learns collectively and individually will determine their fate in the coming years.  Information overload is only going to get worse for everyone. We need to find a way to ensure that our focus in learning is on two things: quality of communications and our ability to extract value from massive amounts of information. Learning is not so much about pouring massive amounts of information into our brains all at once. It is about optimizing our social/professional networks and accessing new information JIT/JET – Just-in-time/Just-enough.

Does your learning strategy incorporate enough focus on innovative tactics for training people JIT/JET? I often find that many academics frown at the simplicity of this concept. Yet the Gen Y’ers are demanding only a JIT/JET learning strategy and have very little patience for the information dump that occurs in sessions that last much longer than 20 minutes.  They want to know, what they need to know, as they recognize the need to know it.  Get it?

ITIL is about constant and never-ending improvement.   ITIL “depends”.   Your ITIL/ITSM education strategy needs to focus on JIT/JET blended approaches through internal community sharing, eLearning nuggets or “coursels”, mentoring, classroom “coursels” and job sharing.  Sending your IT team to consecutive classroom training sessions is not the answer.   Don’t fall for the “bums in seats” marketing of classroom training.

Find out what the learner group needs now, deliver it rapidly in an educational and fun way, and determine when the learning modules have outlived their usefulness.  Store all of the learning assets centrally, maintain version control, seek collaboration with as many relevant subject matter experts as possible and continuously improve. You can do all of this and fast. Reducing costs and improving learning delivery. Find the right systems and put the processes in place.

When researching Blended Learning, I have come up with several different definitions, but my favourite comes right from Wikipedia:

Blended learning gives learners and teachers an environment to learn and teach more effectively. Learners can select the best activities to suit their own pace, learning style and level of understanding, as well as time and place. Learners can be more independent and self-reliant in their own learning. They can also be more able to make decisions, think creatively and critically, investigate and explore as well as solve problems they face in learning and real life. Meanwhile, teachers can be facilitators, supervisors, assessors, organizers and managers of learning activities, and so should be creative and able to support learners and provide various learning materials in different formats.

Blended learning increases the options for greater quality and quantity of human interaction in a learning environment. Blended learning offers learners the opportunity “to be both together and apart.” A community of learners can interact anywhere, anytime because of the benefits that computer-mediated educational tools provide. Blended learning provides a ‘good’ mix of technologies and interactions, resulting in a socially supported, constructive, learning experience; this is especially significant given the profound affect that it could have on distance learning.

The  most difficult thing about educating a team that is culturally, geographically and skill diverse is  coming  up with the exact formula that is perfect for each person. Why not offer a blended approach that allows your team to get the most out of their learning style and the content you are presenting as well as still being able to collaborate with others? Gone are the days when educators are looking to fill seats. This economy calls for and perhaps even demands that we become more creative in the way that we share knowledge and teach. There are many organizations that do a good job in helping IT Professionals know what they should be doing in the context of ITIL and ITSM…but most folks leave trying to plug theory into their organizations without any real place to meet and collaborate after the class is over.

In my next post, I’ll look at learning strategies and how to make them effective.

This blog is part of a series of general comments and clarifications on some key ITIL exam concepts, terms and definitions that might not be so clear by definition. This week’s topic is about the use of models in ITIL that support process models discussed earlier.

The list of models referenced below from the ITIL publications shows that Models and Modelling play an important part of ITIL best practice. ITIL identifies the creation of models and of modeling as part of the science to successful ITSM.

In my opinion, IT Service Management is part art and part science. Models add some predictive science, but we all know that IT isn’t predictive. It requires a lot of subjective assessment and direction (called management).

The remainder of this blog is some basic ITIL definitions and then the list of models taken from ITIL publications.

The ITIL definition of a Model is:

A representation of a system, process, IT service, configuration item etc. that is used to help understand or predict future behaviour.

The ITIL definition of Modelling is:

A technique that is used to predict the future behaviour of a system, process, IT service, configuration item etc. Modelling is commonly used in Financial Management, Capacity Management and Availability Management.

Models identified from ITIL publications include:

–    Business Model

–    Kano Model (for value-added service offerings)

–    Service Model

• Service Funding Model
• Financial/economic/cost Model
• Service Provisioning Model
• Performance Model

–    Service Design Model

• Demand Model
• Capacity/Resource Model
• Outsourcing Model
• Chargeback Model
• Use-Case Model
• Data Model
• Monitor Control Loop Model
• Analytical Model
• Baseline Model
• Simulation Model

–    Service Transition Model

• Change Model
• Change Authorization Model
• Service-V Model
• Test Model
• Build Model
• Support Model
• Change Authorization Model
• Configuration Model

–    Service Operational Model

• Service Delivery Model
• Staffing Model

–    Continual Service Improvement Model

• Deming’s PDCA Model
• Capability Maturity Model (CMM)
• Governance Model
• Service Gap Model
• Service Measurement Model
• Service Management Model
• DIKW Model

–    RACI Model

–    Application Lifecycle Model

–    Service Lifecycle Model

I was recently in a meeting with a large client who was considering creating both and online and ILT delivered course.  We had a great conversation on how learners will go through the material and meet the compliance requirement.  I then asked them, “how are you going to ensure that the Learners have retained the content post training?” I was met with a sea of blank faces.  I further asked, “what is your strategy for allowing learners to learn from others who have been through similar situations or ask questions when confronted with a situation they are not sure how to deal with?”  Once again I was met with dazed expressions.

I then asked a simple question: “where would you go if you needed information on how to program your TV?”  One person said the manual, another said the company website and the last person said he would go to a Blog or discussion forum and find out what others who have the same TV have done.  I asked them then why wouldn’t you do the same thing for Learning.  Now I saw the lights going on around the room.  If we could create a discussion forum that allowed students to share their real world experiences about a topic then this would take a burden off the HR group.  I did suggest that the Online community be moderated to ensure people are kept on topic but for the most part learners would be able to share and learn organically.

In the end the client decided that this made great sense and really didn’t cost anything to setup and get running. They can do this for very little investment and then have a designated person moderate and be the expert to assist in answering the questions the community may not be able too.

This is a simple concept which if executed well can help foster ongoing learning and sharing in the organization making everyone stronger for the experience in participating.

In mid-May I blogged about “What Really Matters in the May 2009 ITIL Exam Syllabus Update.” I’ve been getting some questions about the Bridge Course and what really matters with the same May update.

Well, the news is that all updates in May 2009 are reflected in BOTH courses. However, if you are going from ITIL®v2 to ITIL®v3, then there’s a lot of new material. The following table is a simple comparison between processes and functions of the ITIL versions:

Notes:
Mgmt = Management process
* - indicates a process NOT covered in either Foundation or Bridge courses

You can see the extent of new processes and functions from the table above. In addition, the ITIL®v3 framework discusses generic concepts at the Service Lifecycle stage level, essentially making these 5 stages additional course study areas.

• The ITIL®v2 Foundation framework areas touched on 11 areas as illustrated.
• The ITIL®v3 Foundation framework areas touch on the same 11 areas plus 12 new processes and functions and 5 lifecycle stages, for a total 28 areas of study.

The chart also shows some addition to common areas such as “Asset Management” added to Configuration Management, and “Deployment Management” added to Release Management.

Hopefully this provides some clarity!