What is ITIL?: An economic analogy

It is no secret that ITIL can be and is a tough sell. Especially to those that have never heard of it. Even tougher still, is explaining it to people who "know" what it is but have been spun around by the vendor spin machine so much that they often don't even know why they bothered in the first place.

One of the biggest issues is it is not easy to explain in one sentence. Most people's attention "IT attention span" only lasts about 40 seconds. I ran into the same problem when I was in the software space. There is no quick way to explain "Field force automation". It's a marketing term and you have to assume the person you are speaking to knows what the heck "Field force" is.

Most think it's what keeps the Starship Enterprise from being hit by Klingon weapons systems.

The same goes for my passion for ITIL. I love the framework and all that it offers but I can't deny the frustration of trying to explain it sometimes

"It is a best-practice framework for IT Service Management"

The next thing you usually see in the eyes of the person you are speaking to is


After their brain reboots the next question is usually: "So what hardware/software does that run on?"

The reality of the situation is that ITIL is a concept. The best thing about it is that it doesn't run on any hardware or software. As one of my favourite bloggers the IT Skeptic once said

"You can do ITIL on post-it notes"

To explain ITIL to the uninformed without "GPFing" them I have developed a few analogies that sum up the concept of ITIL and give people something to relate it to. One is what I call the "Capitalism analogy" which is designed for those who are more politically/intellectually inclined.

It goes something like this:

Intellectual partygoer: So what do you do?

ITIL Samurai (smiling): I'm an IT Service Management consultant

Intellectual partygoer: What's IT Service Management?

ITIL Samurai: It's a system for ensuring quality IT services

Intellectual partygoer: So, it's hardware? Software?

ITIL Samurai: (Still smiling) Neither actually...........

Intellectual partygoer: (now with raised eyebrow confused look on face)

ITIL Samurai: The best way to describe it is like this......(dramatic pause).....do you mind if I use an analogy?

Intellectual partygoer: Sure! (confusion eyebrow still present)

ITIL Samurai: Your familiar with the idea of Capitalism correct?

Intellectual partygoer: You bet your bippy! I just make 4 million dollars last week with my Enron shares!

ITIL Samurai: Great! You see ITSM is like Capitalism. It's a concept. In order to have capitalism there are certain key things you need to have in place to say a country has "embraced capitalism". Market economy, private ownership, corporations to trade capital goods, stuff like that.

Intellectual partygoer: Yes. That's right.

ITIL Samurai: Well In order to get the best out of your IT organization, by “embracing ITSM” there are certain things you need to have in place to "manage" your IT "services". Capacity Management, Availability Management, Problem Management, Change Management etc. Now those things I just mentioned are come from a methodology called ITIL. ITIL is the method or way in which I help people get to that lofty concept of ITSM and perfectly managed services.

So in the Capitalism analogy, you would drop me into third world countries and I would help them achieve capitalism by assisting them in setting up those things that are needed to achieve that. You can't go from third world to free market in a day! The beauty of what I do is that it is not hardware or software specific so after I understand a bit about my customers needs and culture, my customers can pick what hardware or software works best for their business instead of trying to force fit a solution into it! ITIL is concerned about the method. The hardware and software is just a tool to assist!

Intellectual partygoer: Ooooooh! I see. So each one of those managment thingies you just spoke of are ways to get to ITSM.

ITIL Samurai: Exactly!!!!

Intellectual partygoer: So who “makes” this ITIL stuff?

ITIL Samurai: Well that’s what’s so cool about it. ITIL stands for “Information Technology Infrastructure Library” In essence it is a set of books that were created by major and minor players in the IT industry. So it’s a variable cornucopia of “good-practice” based on the real world experiences of the greater geek community!

Intellectual partygoer: Variable cornucopia?


ITIL Samurai: Does anyone know how to reboot this guy??????

So there you have it!

Next time you are trying to explain what ITSM is.....don't! Help bridge the gap of understanding by relating what ITIL is to something everyone "understands but doesn't REALLY know". See? This stuff CAN be fun!