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CMSG gets ITIL

A belated postcard from the BCS CMSG Conference

CM is a fundamental part of ITIL service delivery and the underpinning of change management and version control. How can you manage change if you aren't sure of what is changing? Well, you have an "assumed" configuration, managed in peoples' heads and documented in an unstructured way in a variety of notes, scripts, and reports – which can work for a time but is very risky.

There was discussion about the move to process-driven CM and more integration with other tools (Serena is a passionate believer in the ALF Eclipse initiative, which should allow "plug and play" tools integration, although the industry as a whole seems divided on this). One issue identified was that many vendors were still selling silo'd products with clumsy point-to-point tool integration.

And, unexpectedly perhaps, several people identified Subversion and open source as a threat. OK, some of these people represented vendors of integrated process-driven tools, but the feeling was more general than that, despite the general agreement that Subversion was an excellent and highly effective CVS-replacement tool, and that open source often delivered excellent products.

The problem with Subversion (and the availability of open source) is that it can highlight issues with an organisation's maturity and management. If CM process has been imposed on an organisation, without any attempt to get real buy-in from those affected at the sharp end, Subversion allows the programmers to download free software which then lets them bypass company process and get away with it, because although Subversion only addresses part of the process, what it does do it does well.

The real issue here, of course, is that the current emphasis on governance, compliance, and process may tempt management to impose something like ITIL and purchase "reassuringly expensive" tools. However, instilling good practice is still a matter of people, process and technology, with people coming first. The real answer is to change a dysfunctional management culture, not to ban open source.

However, CM must deliver visible, immediate and incremental benefits – and not just benefits visible to the CEO or CIO, but benefits to the programmers at the sharp end too.

There were some downbeat aspects of this conference too. It was a little depressing to meet people that were successfully introducing good process into parts of their organisation - and then hearing that this wasn't being institutionalised across the organisation. This, it seems to me, is a maturity issue - in CMMI terms, low maturity companies can be successful and even adopt high-maturity process in particular areas, but the first step on the maturity ladder (after recognising what you've got in the way of process) is to migrate successful process to those areas which don't have it yet.

There was also some discussion about the costs of attending a two day conference like this one. Some delegates were spending their own money to attend, in the laudable interests of personal career development, but shouldn't their employer contribute to this? And there were stories of companies giving their staff ITIL webinars, because sending them to a face-to-face conference wasn't cost effective. I suspect that this is short sighted - the webinar gives you the facts, but the insights and enthusiasm needed to make a success of an ITIL implementation come from talking to people like Sharon Taylor and Shirley Lacy. And [just a small plug – Ed], joining the BCS and its CMSG (or other interest groups) gives you that chance.

To end on an upbeat note, this conference was a great opportunity for networking and gave attendees access to top practitioners in the field. And you could talk to them informally over the CMSG dinner, which should have helped to dispel any lingering ideas that CM people can't have fun.

The next such opportunity is on 19 July, when we can expect to hear some Configuration Management horror stories from an IT auditor. ®

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