The 7 Guiding Principles of ITIL: A Roadmap for Delivering Continous Improvement.
Tags: itil, service, career, webdev
Published: 2024-06-19 20:00:30

ITIL or Information Technology Infrastructure Library, is a well-known set of IT best practices and guidelines for managing the service lifecycle within an organisation.  The latest version of ITIL v4 outlines seven key principles that serve as the foundation for exceptional IT Service management. 

Here are the seven key guiding principles:

- Focus on value
- Start where you are
- Progress iteratively with feedback
- Collaborate and promote visibility
- Think and work holistically
- Keep it simple and practical 
- Optimize and automate


## 1. Focus on Value.

> "Everything the organization does should link back, directly or indirectly, to value for itself, its customers, and the other shareholders." 

The ultimate goal for any organization is to deliver value to its customers. ITIL framework emphasizes the importance of understanding and identifying what truly matters to the service consumer. This is something that changes over time, and organizations must continuously strive to enhance the customer experience to offer the best outcome. 

## 2. Start where you are

> "Before making any change or improvement, it's important to assess the current position and see if anything can be reused or built on".

Before embarking on any change, it is important that organizations have a clear view of the current situation.  With this guiding principle, organizations are advised to take an objective look at their existing services, processes, and capabilities. This is something that will allow organizations to identify areas that can be reused and built upon for the future.  

## 3. Progress iteratively with feedback

> "Resist the temptation to do everything at once. Even huge initiatives must be accomplished iteratively."

Transformations and large-scale initiatives should be approached iteratively and potentially revised.  ITIL advises organizations to follow a continuous cycle of improvement that identifies opportunities for enhancing existing services, emerging demands, and the value chain. This iterative approach ensures that the focus on value remains unwavering. 

## 4. Collaborate and promote visibility

> "Collaboration can be viewed as working together towards a shared goal. It can help to remove silos within organisations, allowing everyone to work together more effectively."

To promote visibility, organizations need to make sure that the right employees have the right roles and responsibilities. Remember that collaboration and communication are important to support good decisions. 

## 5. Think and work holistically

> "No service, practice, process, department or supplier stands alone. All the organisation's activities should be focused on the delivery of value."

ITIL suggests the importance of a holistic approach, where the organizations activities are aligned with the delivery of value. Clear communication and identification of patterns that support automation. 

##  6. Keep it simple and practical

> "Always use the minimum number of steps to accomplish an objective."

To keep things simple, organizations should avoid unnecessary complexities and enable quick wins through practical solutions. 

## 7. Optimise and automate.

> "Before an activity can be effectively automated, it should be optimized to whatever degree is possible and reasonable."

Don't automate for automation's sake. ITIL recommends understanding and agreeing on the context for optimization, focusing on simplification and value. Automation should be pursued only when it helps increase the value of the business. 


**References:**

https://bit.ly/4eystaP

https://www.ivanti.com/glossary/itil