Clouderati vs. Itilista: Thoughts on the Linkage of Cloud and ITIL and Where Twain Fails to Meet

Recently I was speaking with project manager implementing ITIL for the whole service lifecycle. For those, unfamiliar, ITIL is a process framework of 22 processes to manage a service from "Should we do it?" to "How are we are designing it," "How do we operate it" and the end, "We are getting rid of it."

Somewhere in there, the whole how to do it requires a service catalog to design, assemble, offer, order, and deliver the service. - which is why we were talking.

So far so good.

But the project manager, she struggled with how to make all this process framework relevant to her customer, to get the project funded.  So I asked her, "are you building a private cloud?"

A bit of hemm and haw, and out comes a torrential downpour of projects for virtualization, cloud public and private, etc, etc. And her customers she had to sell were the people who were running these projects.

Which explained the focus on the service lifecycle?! It's no good to make server provisioning 5 minutes, if architecture reviews, requirements, design, change management, etc, are all done manually as one-of's bespoke projects that take 6-18 months! 

The real issue is how do you accelerate the throughput of the whole cycle! At the top level, the execs understood this is the real challenge, but down in the implementation level, every one doing the best they can, the forest gets lost, the link unbroken.

So far my observation can be summarized as:

ITIL	Cloud
Focused on process	Focused on automation
Focused on customers	Focused on infrastructure
No linkage to automation, dismissive even	No linkage to business, take that for granted

I don't want to imply that one is better than the other, rather to point out that these are two cultures that need each other, but may not be articulating their concerns and objectives in ways that each can listen and help.

For example, the cloud requires automation of process and policies to speed provisioning of services. Which is why they get annoyed by the ITILISTA focus on manual process.

And ITIL focus on being a  common language sounds plain condescending when your customer truly talks different. "Hey, it's the common language so learn it if you want to be talk right!" just infuriates data center folk

Finally, ITIL lack of focus on automation, getting rid of process steps and rigid definitions completely disables people building clouds from bringing in their objectives, tools, language to the table.

Take change management. Please. <drumsounds>

ITIL prescribes a cumbersome process, very manual, with meetings, etc. In the cloud, we are looking for self-service, instant delivery of computing resource. Should that go through change management?

Your answer will determine whether you are an ITILista or a Clouderati.

Until then, it remains cloudy, with a chance of ITIL.

Comments

[Ian Cllayton]

We need to help folks understand what ITIL is. Its a reference and source of some of the information needed to operations manage an IT organization. It is not mutually exclusive with Cloud - in fact it can help Cloud service providers.

Embarking on an implementation of 22 processes that manage a service through its lifecycle based solely on ITIL is foolish and destined for failing - your customers. This is inside-out thinking rengineering the pipes without knowing what has to flow through them.

Cloud is just another valid infrastructure management option - albeit compelling. I just don't see the value in pitting them against each other - they each address different sets of issues..

[Rodrigo Flores]

I agree Ian. What's interesting about this case is that the data center guys know they need process, so they are being offered ITIL as an option. (Which is fair).

The problem is that they are bewildered by what comes back because it doesn't match their objectives. For example, "It takes too long to provision a server and it's too many hoops. Our customers want us to change that." Seems pretty straightforward.

Somehow it's ITIL-ized and it's not so straightforward any more.