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Continual Service Improvement:

The Six Steps to Success

Blog Change management Vision ITIL

Author Doug Tedder - With Continual Service Improvement (CSI), the six
Principal Consultant, step CSI model is my secret weapon to ensuring
Tedder Consulting IT Service Management (ITSM) practitioners
implement changes and service improvements
June 16, 2015 | 5 min read
efficiently, effectively and continually.

So, what are the six steps and how do you follow them?

Step 1: What is the Why: ITSM implementation is not for the faint of heart
Vision? and requires concerted commitment from practitioners.
Too often IT organizations become enamoured with the
concept that to implement ITSM you must base it on ITIL
® without first asking “what is the vision?”

How:

Clearly articulate the problem you are trying to solve.

How does the problem impact the objectives of the
business?
Take the time to integrate with the business objectives
what you want to achieve from ITSM.

Outcome: Begin to identify problems, build an

understanding of how ITSM can solve them and how
they align with the business objectives – the critical first
step in successful ITSM implementation. Focused effort
here will really pay off throughout the life of the
implementation.

Step 2: Where are Why: Once you’ve obtained the big picture you need a
you now? reality check: ask tough questions and understanding
 what’s holding you back.
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How:

Ask an objective third party to assess the state of the

organization and create a report on what’s stopping
the business from being where it wants to be. This can
be done internally but needs a lot of discipline and
emotional detachment to avoid a biased report.
The report is not an end in itself; it’s fact gathering and
identifying issues in order to begin the service
improvement process.

Outcome: The assessment should give you a clear

picture of where you are now and where the issues lie
so you can take that first step towards your vision.

Step 3: Where do Why: The vision is a perfect “glittery” goal in the future.
you want to be? But you won’t get there in one step, therefore, you must
plan the various steps to reach that vision eventually.

How:

Keeping in mind the business’ objectives, start with

improvements that will deliver the biggest, quickest
and most tangible returns.
This six-step model scales upwardly and downwardly,
so you can use it for the entire organization, in one
department or on one project; in any case you’ll see
measurable results if you use it correctly.

Outcome: You’ll begin to understand and formulate a

plan that can be taken to the shareholders, senior
management and others involved in the ITSM
implementation in order to build the appetite for change
and understand how much tolerance people have for it
at this stage.

Step 4: How do you Why: This is the step that gives us valuable feedback
get there? from the business, the shareholders and employees. By
explaining your findings, your initial plan and targets
you are encouraging their engagement with the
proposed changes and gaining their support and
commitment.

How:

Share your findings from the assessment and your

planned next steps.
 Encourage feedback in order to define more solidly
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the next steps, your targets and goals
Leverage multiple frameworks – your tools in the
ITSM toolbox – to help meet your targets
Take advice from two or three of the frameworks,
such as ITIL, DevOps or COBIT and adopt and adapt
them to suit your purpose

Outcome: You are able to devise a plan and define your

approach as a team, building the support, commitment
and engagement with the changes. The most important
part of ITSM is the people; processes and technology
come second, so make sure everyone is engaged.

Step 5: Did you get Why: By setting your targets and goals in step 3, you
there? will have dates by which to complete certain goals.

How:

Build check-points along the way to review your

progress with each target.
Each time you reach a targeted date and are reviewing
your results consider if something has changed that
needs to be accounted for.
Plan to review your progress quarterly not annually; it
needs to be regular.

Outcome: As things begin to take root, regularly

reviewing and understanding your progress will enable
you to address any issues early on. If something isn’t
going as planned you are in a good position to redirect it
before it causes more problems.

Step 6: How do you Why: if you are following a road map to get you from
keep the point A to point B and you take a wrong turn without
correcting yourself, you will get somewhere but it won’t
momentum going?
be point B. Taking that approach when reviewing your
progress is hugely important to keep the momentum
going.

How:

Have the business objectives changed; do you need to

amend the steps to reach the vision?
Fix any problems and celebrate your successes – tell
people when you’ve reached a goal.

Outcome: Once you implement ITSM successfully, the

model feeds itself and success breeds success. By telling
those involved where you are going right and giving the
 business tangible results you are creating the next steps
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on the path towards that perfect, glittering vision. That
means absorbing the learning points, understanding the
value of ITSM and developing a great partnership
between all departments to push the business forward
together.

Ensure continual service improvement for IT Service

Management with our ITIL certifications, a series of
qualifications focusing on ITIL best practice.

Powering Best Practice

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