The Right Place at the Right Time

Now I know this isn't cool to admit, but I love London. I love the fact that you can walk from the City to The West End in 45 minutes, I love the villages (you'll notice this if you do walk) and the Markets and the pubs and the people.

I currently work there and now I'm going to be there for the Olympics, so while it probably will get frustrating at times, I'll be heading for Hyde Park and anywhere I can get a bit of atmosphere for free. And I won't be doing it like a tourist. To the surprise of everyone (not least themselves) I'll be doing it like a Londoner.

ITIL Process: there's a problem in one of those words

And not in the one that I was expecting. While I was railing at 'ITIL', I should have been railing at 'Process'. It was the IT Skeptic that pointed me in the direction of Adaptive Case Management and the effect was as profound as when I was first introduced to ITIL.
I'm still learning up on ACM and it will take a little while to integrate it with ITIL, but I'm sure it will go a long way to remove the blockers that I was moaning about in my previous post. I might even take less time than 18 months to post again. :-)

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Losing my religion...

I'm feeling a Martin Luther moment coming on. The problem seems to be SPEED. ITIL processes are too slow and bureaucratic to cope with rapid change (who the hell wants to wait a week for a CAB these days???)

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Square peg in a slit

I'm sitting here at the current client co working on processes that they need but don't want because the last process they needed didn't work (spectacularly) - those processes were ITIL. I feel a seismic shift coming on.....

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Conference time: the end for another year.

I've survived both the conference and the dinner. I've met old and new acquaintances, gathered brochures and freebies, and sat through many presentations. These 2 days weren't only for networking but also to study trends and decide which way I need to take my business in order to keep in contract. And the main trend that came up this year is cloud computing: how to implement it and how to manage it.

So now I need to sit back and think how I can create an offering that will keep me attractive in the now cloudy world of ITSM.

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Conference time: the awards dinner

I've been oozing easy confidence all day and made a couple of useful contacts, the next potential banana skin is the awards ceremony. In previous years I haven't had too much of a problem as being on my own I don't get drunk, I get bored half way into my 2nd glass of house red. The danger comes when someone takes me under their wing, then the taps turn on and before I know it I've gone though a bottle and we're still waiting for mains, then I can happily talk ITIL before gracefully sliding under the table.

So what will it be? Professional, sober and bored or relaxed, merry and happy?

On the basis that most of my esteemed colleagues sinking far greater quantities of food and booze than I can ever manage, I know what I should aim for is probably not what I'll manage. My only real aim is not to end up with a raging hangover tomorrow. I only hope I achieve it.

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Conference time

Well here I am again at the itSMF conference, networking and hoping to drum up business for the next year. It's a bit nerve-wracking turning up on your own at these events. You have to present an easy confidence as you roam around and tamp down the desperate 'can I be your friend?' neediness of a Billy Nomates; potential contacts can smell this from a mile away.

The conference is much reduced from when I was last here in 2007. The exhibition isn't as big and the presentations hold more of an attraction to all delegates, but fortified with a good breakfast and a sharp pair of heels I expect to make the most of them. Now off to discover which exhibitors have the best pens and freebies...

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Technology leap

And all of a sudden I've joined the 21st century with an iPhone blogging app - there'll be no holding me back now. Stay tuned for some spectacular predictive typos.

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The Wonders of an off-line iPhone

Well, after all that faffing, I've left this blog alone with the excuse that I hadn't the time to login, think about what I want to write, then type it out.

Why I didn't think of tapping something on my iphone while I'm on the train commuting and then simply cutting and pasting onto the blog will be one of the mysteries of life.

Along with the fact that I'm an IT contractor.

Back to school tomorrow!

At least that's what it feels like.  I've got my new clothes, new pencil case and a new notebook.  I've checked and saved all and any templates that I'll be needing and yet again rifled through my library to decide what, if any, books I'll be needing to take with me.

Tomorrow it will be off to the new office to meet new colleagues, make new friends and influence new people. And the best bit about it is that I've done this for long enough that I know what I have to do tomorrow - find out: Why I've been hired, What's expected of me, Who are my (potential) friends and enemies; suppliers and customers, How I'm going to deliver, When 'it' needs to be delivered and Where 'it' needs to go.

Admitted not in any detail, and not to a great degree of accuracy (that comes next week...) but by the end of the day I've have got a rough handle on what's going on.

And if I haven't got a rough handle? Well that tells me something too.  The contract will be an interesting one...