Session Codes

What’s your likeability factor? Tim will tell you!

Back by popular demand!  Best selling author and leadership coach, Tim returns for another high energy, passionate and highly motivational presentation.

Frequently featured in the media – Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNN Money, and Fast Company – Tim is a rare hybrid of business expert, motivational speaker and people skills guru. His research, passion, and ability to move audiences to action sets him apart as the people-centric business expert.

Tim’s “Likeability” message is simple but very powerful. Conventional wisdom insists that it’s more important to be respected than liked. But Tim challenges that notion and reveals the awesome power of likeability. He shows us that if we want to garner support from our associates, earn the loyalty of our customers and employees, lead our followers to a better future, be healthy, and finally achieve our life’s dreams, we must first be liked. In this important and necessary message, Tim tells us why our likeability is the foundation of our success, and shows us how to do it.

Welcome to Malcolmritaville! It’s Malcolm like you’ve never seen him before. What can you do when you’ve got “fins to the right, fins to the left and you’re the only bait in town”, and do you know where you’re “gonna go when the volcano blows”? Malcolm – a 40+ year IT veteran and one of the most respected experts in the industry – has an uncanny ability to combine tongue in cheek humor and very meaningful information to highlight key learning points. And he promises to do just that in this unique and very entertaining session using music, many anecdotes from his vast and deep pockets of experience, together with many tips from his book, ITIL Lite: A Road Map to Full or Partial ITIL Implementation. This is a not to be missed session if you want to learn how to avoid many pitfalls for implementing change in a fun, relaxed and very entertaining way – Malcolmritaville style!!

Referring to the many informative case study and expert presentations from this conference, David and George will highlight ten critical actions you can easily put into play when you return to work after this highly educational event. They will also give guidance about how to communicate these findings to your colleagues (and bosses!) in the form of a Post-Conference Trip Report and even a fun Margaritaville – themed staff meeting! Don’t miss the valuable insight David and George can give you about how to summarize and communicate key learning points you gained; why this is very important; and most importantly how to demonstrate immediate quick wins!

Code: General

Are your processes “defined?” Are they fully “optimized?” Do you know what these mean and why it’s important to know? Attend Terry’s session and you’ll learn about the key concepts of process maturity. Terry will provide an overview of the different process maturity stages and explain why understanding a maturity level is a necessary step in implementing ITIL best practices.

Make this a must-attend session to help you better understand other conference presentations that refer to process maturity, assessments, and best practices for implementing ITIL processes.

To maximize participation, this session is scheduled more than once throughout the conference: It is presented on Sunday afternoon as a Conference Optimizer, Monday and Tuesday as Breakfast Club sessions, and Monday as a Track 5 breakout session.

Code: General

Many conference attendees aim to network with others in similar industries, roles, and situations, to expand learning and exchange ideas and best practices. These are all very good goals, but what exactly is the best way to get the most out of networking opportunities? Maybe you’re on your own; how do you meet people? Kirk will tell you everything you need to know! He’ll not only give you many tips for how to successfully network at this conference, but he’ll also guarantee that you’ll leave this session with several new friends and contacts!   

This session is presented twice, once as a Sunday Optimizer on Sunday afternoon, and again as a Breakfast Club session on Monday morning.

Code: Beyond Beginner

ITIL’s Service Strategy book is undergoing a refresh, which is scheduled for release in late 2010.  During this session, Jack will provide a must-have overview of the book’s contents, which include many insightful business concepts and principles for senior IT managers. Jack, a veteran of many strategic ITIL and ITSM initiatives, will provide an overview of the key elements, concepts, and processes contained in the book, and how strategy runs through the Service Lifecycle. Included in his overview will be: The 4 Ps of Strategy; Competition and Marketplace; Service Value, Service Oriented Accounting; Service Value; Service Provisioning Models; Organization Design and Development.

Code: Beyond Beginner

Dr. Gitlow is presenting two sessions at this conference. This one, and another in Track 4 – IT Business School.

The University of Miami is a large private research university with more than 15,000 students. In 2009, U.S. News & World Report recognized U of M among the top-tier of national universities, ranking it No. 50 in its listings of “America’s Best Colleges.” In this unique presentation, Dr. Gitlow will describe how U of M walks the talk! Specializing in business metrics, dashboards and scorecards, and Six Sigma, Dr. Gitlow has played a key role in establishing a dashboard process for the university. He’ll start by providing an educational overview of dashboards and scorecards, and their strategic/tactical value. He’ll also explain the key role these tools play in steering an organization towards its mission statement and corporate goals. Dr. Gitlow will then go on to describe how U of M has taken their own Balanced Scorecard to a new very dynamic level. His presentation will also include examples of business metrics the university measures and tracks, and he’ll provide an overview of the process used by the university’s management teams for continuous improvement. Dr. Gitlow is a senior member of the American Society for Quality Control and a member of the American Statistical Association. He has consulted on quality, productivity and related matters with many organizations, including several Fortune 500 companies.

Code: General

Celebrating its 150^th anniversary, McInnes Cooper is a regional law firm with seven offices across Atlantic Canada.  IT business alignment has been a key focus of Shane’s IT organization for some time, and as IT regional director, he is involved in developing and executing strategies that provide value-add.  How has this been accomplished? In this case study presentation, Shane will present a laundry list of five specific ways that ITIL and ITSM practices have helped his IT organization become more strategically focused, including how they’re using ITIL’s Service Strategy model to help deliver business value and cement IT as a strategic business asset.

Code: Beyond Beginner

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a global information and education company providing knowledge, insights and analysis in the financial, education and business information sectors through leading brands. With more than 280 offices in 40 countries, the company has considerable pressure to effectively manage IT costs, identify cost indicators and reliably provide accurate chargeback information. Most of all, McGraw-Hill sought the ability to issue a monthly “CIO Invoice” consisting of IT and telecommunication charges that could be viewed online by all business managers. In this session, Greg will recap McGraw-Hill’s corporate objectives to find an IT cost transparency solution, its implementation of a solution, and details of the process involved in the issuance and management of a monthly CIO invoice, together with the methods used to help them accurately assign costs to specific IT activities and services. Greg will also describe how, best of all, McGraw-Hill has gained success by aligning tools, people and processes to help define IT services and the corresponding budgets while also communicating the cost drivers and strategic value that IT provides to business managers.

Code: Beyond Beginner

In this engaging and information-packed session, renowned executive educator and former award-winning Stanford business school professor, Dr. Lynn Phillips will teach you how leading IT services organizations can choose a winning customer value proposition (VP), and then architect and systematically execute a designed value delivery system (VDS) to deliver that VP profitably. Dr. Phillips is one of the original co-creators and developers of many of the essential customer-focus and value-delivery frameworks, concepts, tools, and disciplines that are employed by leading companies worldwide to hone their competitive edge, reinvent their businesses, and drive sustained growth.

The methodologies and protocols developed by Dr. Phillips help business teams to “become” their targeted customer community by “spending a day in their life,” thereby gaining an imaginative understanding of their unmet needs, transcending what the customers themselves could imagine on their own. This breakthrough approach, pioneered by Dr. Phillips and his co-authors and colleagues, is now the de facto standard deployed by countless leading-edge companies pursuing new-business opportunities.

Dr. Phillips is also presenting a more detailed half-day workshop on Wednesday afternoon based on this session.

Code: Beyond Beginner

The CIO role is changing – dramatically. More and more business executives are turning to CIOs for technology leadership that transforms the business. Research shows that for many of today’s CIOs, the strategic aspect of their jobs has become much more prominent. Many have stepped back from technical operations, and now focus mostly on working with the business community, making sure there is a clear understanding of business processes and needs.

If the CIO role is changing, then how must IT change with it? How will your role as an ITSM professional change? Join Matt and Susan as they share industry trends and outline the CIO’s new charter and how new business models and modern technology facilitate IT transformation. Learn how several ITSM organizations delivered IT operational excellence through enterprise strategy and innovation while contributing successfully to their CIO’s overall role of business strategist and leader.

Track 2 – The People Side Of IT

Code: General

A former naval officer and now a senior IT manager, Brendan recently made the leap to civilian life and the business world. Not daunted by the many new challenges thrown his way, Brendan has embraced a view that leadership skills are transportable. In doing so, he’s relied on lessons learned in the navy about building focused and productive teams, how to get the best out of people, building trust, and leading diverse teams strategically, tactically and operationally through major “battles.”  During this presentation, he’ll be armed with his top 10 laundry list to share specific examples with you including how he has applied these lessons learned as an IT practitioner.

Code: General

The Coconut Telegraph – Part 2
Five Tips For Successfully Managing Teams & People Through Change
Moderated By: Gary Case, Principal Consultant, Pink Elephant

Dave St. Clair, Director, DM&EA, Allstate Insurance Company
Brendan Gray, former VP Operations, Interactive Data Corporation
Stephen Wrenn, SVP Enterprise IT Services, CVS Caremark Corporation
Dr. Lew Temares, CIO, University of Miami
Tina Myren, Sr. Project Manager, Snohomish County Public Utilities Commission

Code: General

Getting the right people to do the right things in the right way is the secret to success! Join five highly experienced and seasoned IT professionals who will share one tip each (a lesson learned, advice, a proven method or a best practice used) for how to successfully manage and tackle major cultural change. This includes creating a positive and energized climate and teams, choosing the right people for the right roles, overcoming resistance to change, and navigating people through what is often tight project deadlines and challenging goals.

Code: General

Kirk, one of the industry’s most inspirational, uplifting and dynamic speakers, will review this cult classic – Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace – one of his favorite books. Kirk’s session is a must-attend for any manager looking for new ways to invigorate employees, and anyone who wants to achieve his or her best, most self-expressive, most creative and fulfilling work. Creativity is crucial to business success. But too often, even the most innovative organization quickly becomes a "giant hairball" – a tangled, impenetrable mass of rules, traditions, and systems, all based on what worked in the past – that exercises an inexorable pull into mediocrity. Gordon MacKenzie, the author, worked at Hallmark Cards for 30 years, many of which he spent inspiring his colleagues to slip the bonds of corporate normalcy and rise into orbit to a mode of dreaming, daring and doing above and beyond the rubber-stamp confines of the administrative mind-set. This is a deeply funny and inspirational look at professional evolution, together with lessons on awakening and fostering creative genius.

Code: General

♫ It’s these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes
Nothing remains quite the same
Through all of the islands and all of the highlands
If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane ♫

Always a highly rated speaker at Pink’s conferences, Kirk uses an entertaining approach combined with real-life practical insight to illustrate successful team building techniques. In this session, he takes a look at some of the cultural best practices of the top ranked IT support organizations across the globe with which he has worked. Kirk plans to take a grassroots and practical look at exactly what “attitudes” and “latitudes” differentiates IT support groups who demonstrate strong team work versus those that just struggle along aimlessly. Kirk promises that you’ll leave this session with practical guidance you can take home and put into practice right away. Overall, the learning you gain will help serve as the cultural cement for building strong teamwork and teams.

Code: Beyond Beginner

More and more IT organizations are choosing to have their IT departments audited for ISO 20000 certification. Why? Unlike ITIL, which is solely an individually based certification scheme, ISO 20000’s certification proves that your IT organization follows a specific standard of deliverables in an economical way. ISO 20000 is a multi-faceted IT Service Management framework that describes an integrated set of management processes for the effective delivery of IT services. It is aligned with, and complementary to, the process approach defined within ITIL from the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). In fact, many IT organizations who use ISO 20000 or seek certification, also use ITIL as a source of guidance. It is not a question of one or the other, but of both, and Aale will explain why in this informative session. Aale will provide: a brief review of ISO (International Standard Organization) – what it is and its history; an overview of ISO 20000 – its purpose, components, scope and description of the framework; a discussion about how exactly it complements ITIL; an explanation of the ISO 20000 certification scheme and its benefits, and why you and your IT organization should consider this option. Aale is an ITSM industry expert and a member of EXIN’s Professional Group, and one of his roles is to write exam questions for the ISO 20000 Certification program.

Code: Beyond Beginner

“Lean Management” is a business focused approach to process improvement.  Its goal is to eliminate waste and maximize process flow and impact through a philosophy of customer value, process mapping, and continuously striving for perfection.  In this session, Bob Grinsell – a multi-year certified ITIL veteran and Lean Practitioner - will discuss an overview of Lean, its history and the general attributes of a Lean company; Lean’s five key principles and how they’ve applied in Bob's organization; and finally, specific examples of how his IT organization is using ITIL and Lean principles as part of their overall continuous improvement approach.

Code: Beginner 

ISO 38500 is an IT governance model introduced by The International Standard Organization (ISO). The model provides a framework for effective governance that assists senior managers in understanding and fulfilling their legal, regulatory, and ethical obligations with respect to their organizations’ use of IT.  As IT practitioners acquire knowledge of this new standard, there is a key question asked: what is the real value of introducing and implementing ISO 38500? And, what is involved? James will tell you! Learn valuable how-to’s from a very knowledgeable and experienced ISO professional who is a co-opted member of three key industry committees. During this informative session, James will profile a laundry list of practical steps that need to be taken, and what to avoid, for IT organizations who are seriously considering adopting this standard.

It is strongly recommended that you attend Jack Probst’s session – An Introduction To ISO 38500 – before attending this presentation.

Track 4 – IT Business School

Code: General 

Dr. Gitlow is presenting two sessions at this conference. This one, and another in Track 1 – Strategic IT Management.

Six Sigma Management has been embraced by many respected CEOs and used by many highly successful organizations. This session will provide an overview of the theory, tools and methods of Six Sigma Management – with special emphasis on the service organization model. Professor Gitlow explains the background for Six Sigma including definitions, success stories, ingredients for success, benefits and costs, recent developments and how to assess organizational readiness. He will also review the administrative systems of Six Sigma Management including policy management, daily management, and cross-functional management. Professor Gitlow’s areas of specialization are the management theories of Quality Science and statistical quality control. He is a senior member of the American Society for Quality Control and a member of the American Statistical Association. He has consulted on quality, productivity and related matters with many organizations, including several Fortune 500 companies.

Code: Beyond Beginner 

Meet an ITIL certified professor! 

Dr. Galup teaches database and MIS courses and holds many impressive certifications – he is a Certified Computing Professional, Certified ITIL Expert, Certified IT Service Manager, Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT, and Consultant/Manager Competence Certificate in ITSM according to ISO/IEC 20000. In addition, he has held several IT practitioner roles.   

Dr. Galup’s research shows that efficient and effective processes and knowledgeable employees are what separate high performing organizations from average or low performing organizations. In this presentation, he will discuss a five-step method (co-developed by Dr. Ronald Dattero) to tune IT Service Management processes by focusing on the knowledge needs for each role and identifying the employee who possesses the needed knowledge. This five-step method employs a Dynamic Network Analysis (DNA) model that includes three components – Persons, Roles, and Knowledge – and four important relationships between and within them.

Professor Stuart will also present a half-day workshop based on this presentation on Wednesday afternoon.

Code: Beyond Beginner

Dr. John Beachboard is a professor of Computer Information Systems (CIS) at Idaho State University (ISU).  He has more than 25 years experience implementing large-scale information technology and telecommunications systems, and has received an AIS Award for Innovation in IS Education for his work incorporating IT Service Management concepts in the CIS curriculum. ISU has been recognized by the National Security Agency as an academic institution of excellence for its teaching of information assurance and computer security. 

In this presentation, Dr. Beachboard will present an actionable executive-level IT governance framework specifically designed to align IT investment and practices with business strategy.  His presentation includes: an overview of contending understandings of IT governance, which includes COBIT; a discussion about why and how an overly broad definition of IT governance can undermine substantive executive-level participation in key IT governance decisions thus diminishing strategic IT alignment; a review of the elements comprising the development of a strategic IT vision and actionable IT principles for governing the development of IT strategy and investments.

Code: General

Dr. Conger is very well versed on ITSM! Not only is she on the university’s faculty where she manages both IT and ITSM programs, she also has served on itSMF’s Academic Executive Committee and the Steering Committee for itSMF Dallas LIG. According to Professor Conger, industry best practices, including ITIL, offer what sounds like great guidance until you start to actually do something.  The problems of where to begin seem easy when you begin to ponder exactly what to do and how to do it.  Dr. Conger has learned through her research that some common themes emerge based on an analysis of 12 case studies in the U.S., Germany, and Australia.  The themes relate to how ITSM project managers contextualize their work to optimize its chances for success.  This session will discuss different approaches taken and why they worked in their particular environments, and will provide guidelines for contextualizing projects based on organizational characteristics.

Code: General 

Dr. Venkataraman is a highly seasoned IT expert!  He is Chair of the Masters of Science In Information Systems (MSIS) program at IU’s Kelley School of Business – one of the country’s top 20 business schools.  Students who participate in this program are offered a wide range of courses including strategic IT management, data warehousing, ITIL, ISO, ITSM, security, IT governance, project management, SAP and more.  Dr. Venkataraman is also an active participant in both the ISACA and the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF) communities.  In this presentation, Professor Venkataraman will discuss the subject of IT education for the “new” IT professional.  His discussion will include his definition of the new IT professional and he will highlight how education (and training) is often conducted in silos focused on one topic.  However, the new IT professional needs to have a holistic understanding of IT, one that allows them to explore the interrelationships among several areas/topics.  He’ll describe the design and development of an integrated learning experience intended to break the siloed nature of IT education.  Professor Venkataraman will profile IT Service Management concepts as one of the key integration mechanisms and also discuss the implications for training and educational institutions.

Code: General

Professor Gerth is a highly seasoned and well rounded IT expert with practitioner, consulting and academic experience. He is also past-Director of the university’s MBA Consulting Academy, which prepares MBA students to take on IT consulting roles after graduation. His areas of specialty include: information systems management; IT organizational effectiveness; enterprise resource planning; organization Change Management for business transformation; realizing value from business and technology transformation.

In this session, Professor Gerth will discuss the business skills and management competencies required of today’s IT professionals – it’s not just about having strong technical abilities! IT organizations need highly effective IT managers and leaders, project managers, internal consultants, change agents, and ITSM program directors. What does it take to really succeed in these key IT roles in today’s very challenging business environments? Professor Gerth will tell you! If you’re serious about becoming a more successful and well rounded individual, or developing stronger, more effective work teams, don’t miss this valuable session about how to develop business focused education and training plans.

Always a conference favorite and very highly rated, MIT’s Dr. Westerman is back with two new conference sessions!

Jumpstarting Innovation In IT

Code: General

Is innovation a part of your job description? Why not? IT professionals are very well-positioned to generate innovation – whether the business knows it or not. Within IT there is an understanding of how technology powers the business and how new technologies and practices might improve business processes. IT professionals cannot innovate alone, but in too many organizations, they don’t get the opportunity to innovate at all! Fortunately, Dr. Westerman’s research shows that IT leaders don’t need to ask permission before creating innovation capabilities. Innovation need not be very expensive or difficult. But it does take a CIO or other IT leader who is willing to invest their attention, support, and a few resources into making innovation happen. Always a highly engaging speaker, Dr. Westerman will bring his very informed style to this important topic. By combining deep research insights with many useful real-world examples, he’ll show how you can jumpstart innovation in your organization today.

Taking Charge Of The Value Conversation

Code: General

Is your IT unit stuck in a disrespected box you can’t get out of? Do you feel you could deliver more value from IT if business leaders would just give you the chance? MIT’s research shows that, whether or not business executives see IT as a strategic advantage in the firm, IT leaders can change that image for the better. It starts by changing the way you talk with business counterparts and then gradually steering the value conversation in useful directions. In his highly educational and entertaining way, Dr. Westerman will share numerous examples and insights from the award-winning book The Real Business of IT: Turning Business Threats Into Competitive Advantage as well as new research on IT metrics. You’ll leave the session feeling ready to increase IT’s strategic effectiveness – and your own credibility – by taking charge of the value conversation.

Track 5 – The Early Years Of ITSM

Code: Beginner

This presentation is a not-to-be missed session if you’re a “beginner” and want to start your conference experience with an overview of ITIL’s key learning points. The overview is an ideal way to learn about ITIL’s IT Service Management framework and Service Lifecycle approach. Designed for those new to ITIL or needing a refresh, the agenda includes an overview of ITIL’s five books – Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation, Continual Service Improvement – and their main concepts and best practices, together with a high level look at the 26 process, four function IT Service Management process model.

To maximize participation, this session is scheduled more than once throughout the conference: Monday and Tuesday as Breakfast Club sessions, and as a Track 5 breakout session.

Code: General  

Stephen, a former winner of the Case Study Of The Year Award, will provide a strategic perspective on his organization’s continuous improvement projects.  He’ll present a “before” and “after” picture describing progress made to-date since his organization started a major enterprise-wide IT process improvement initiative in early 2009.  His discussion includes: a summary of how the strategic vision was developed and communicated; a description of his role of executive sponsor and a recap of what it means for him to be the “executive evangelist” and lead the initiative; a review of the frameworks adopted and implemented, and the reasons why these specific standards were chosen; how and why service operations and software development were chosen as key starting points for improvements; and a summary of quick wins and highlights of key strategic benefits gained to-date.

Code: General

Mike heads up the IT organization’s Supply Chain Management group. During his presentation he will provide a tactical perspective of continuous improvement including: a description of his organization’s IT Asset Management (ITAM) process model; how ITAM meets the business needs; an overview of the recent implementation of ITAM and lessons learned; and a summary of the very significant improvements made to date, and key contributing success factors; and the process used to “cement” change.

Code: Beginner

Abdul will provide a grass roots look at their project including how he and his team managed the transition of Testing and Release processes from a firefighting and immature state to more productive and proactive maturity levels using ITIL-based drivers, complete with metrics and performance outcomes.  His discussion will also highlight the soft side of the change (people) including lessons learned and pitfalls encountered during the project and how these were managed.

Code: General

What happens when your business needs to drive very rapid change?  Jim will describe how he and his colleagues at AAA NCNU implemented nine processes in seven months! And, he’ll explain how that was “good enough” to successfully meet their objectives.  Even though change happened very quickly and they implemented a “light” version of nine processes, they nonetheless achieved successful outcomes which included noticeably improved IT services. When you think your hands are tied because of low budgets (or none at all!), limited resources, and severe or unrealistic time constraints, Jim will demonstrate how AAA NCNU set the stage for success then drove continuous improvement positively forward, overcoming all these barriers.

There is most definitely a right way versus a wrong way to sell ideas up the line to get buy-in! Whether it’s to embrace adoption of the ITIL framework, or another major new idea, senior managers need to receive specific information and in a specific way. Attend Anil’s session (he is a former senior IT manager himself!) to learn about seven very helpful tips for how to succeed.

Service Lifecycle & Process Map: Lifesavers In A Process Jungle
Viktor Petermann, Head of Process Office, Swedbank Group IT

Code: Beginner

In this case study, Viktor will review details of a major cultural and process transformation within his organization – an international IT banking operation located in 3 different countries and historically organized in 2 strong organizational silos with conflicting interests – Development and Operations. In order to increase efficiency of IT, in 2003 there was a defined vision for IT consolidation. ITIL was chosen as the best practice in Operations and IT Service Management processes started to emerge. On development side few CMMI based processes were established. Different approaches resulted in overlapping processes and continuous search for local optimums. Viktor’s highlights include a review of: IT service and IT service lifecycle concepts; definitions and roll-outs; how the concepts helped in combination with IT units, KPI sets and leveraged synergies between IT Operations and Development; the approach used for IT process mapping; and lesson learned.

Code: Beginner

Who says you have to swallow the whole elephant in one bite? (Not us!). Malcolm is author of the complementary ITIL publication, ITIL Lite: A Road Map to Full or Partial ITIL Implementation. The book provides general guidance, and a step-by-step approach for how to reduce the time required to develop and execute an ITSM implementation plan. During this three-part presentation, Malcolm will highlight key elements of his book and provide very practical guidance for how to successfully manage full, or partial ITIL implementations.

In Part 1, Malcolm will review: why to choose an ITIL Lite approach including the important difference between a “framework” and a “methodology;” and explain a simple but effective approach to ITIL process engineering that includes a dynamic learning activity to understand and explore the scope of simple but effective ITIL processes.

In Part 2, Malcolm will explain that ITIL components have various roles to play that seem to conflict until you learn how to categorize and map ITIL components.  Categorizing of ITIL components suddenly turns ITIL from a complicated set of processes to a logical structure from which you can plan ITIL implementation whether it is a lite version or full ITIL implementation.  Once Categorized it becomes a simple task to see how to map the components into a structure that fit your purposes.  As with part one, there will be a dynamic learning activity but this time to understand and explore the scope of categorization and components mapping.

In Part 3, Malcolm will explain how to prepare to implement your plan by explaining how to harness; Component Maturity, Component Priorities, Component Action Plan, and Gap Analysis to create your own Master Action Plan. Again there will be dynamic learning opportunities.

Track 6 – Advanced ITIL & ITSM

Code: Beyond Beginner 

Is there a finish line? The answer is “no.”  But, there are many challenges involved with increasing process maturity, and keeping the momentum of change and continuous improvement going. How have others done it? Join five IT professionals who will cover advanced concepts for organizations that are beyond the early years of ITSM and ITIL.  As you move beyond the first round of plans and activities, there are different factors to consider – the early years are not the same as later, more advanced years. Attend this informative session to hear valuable lessons learned.

Code: Beyond Beginner

Charles is chief architect for IT Service Management at his organization, and author of Architecture and Patterns for IT Service Management, Resource Planning, and Governance: Making Shoes for the Cobbler's Children. A well seasoned IT professional, he will review the key concepts of Lean IT Value Streams. His presentation will cover: What is a “value stream” and what does it look like; a description of value streams for Application Service, Infrastructure Service, IT Asset, and Technology Product; why IT managers need to understand the difference between Product Lifecycle vs. Service Delivery, Process vs. Function in Lean IT, and Process vs. Flow; and how to use IT value stream concepts for continuous lifecycle improvement.

Code: General

In this revealing case study, John will review how Micron – one of the world's leading semi-conductor companies – implemented SLM (Service Level Management). The implementation was executed over a 12 month period with a final goal of establishing 40 service level agreements across their existing Service Catalog. John will explain the way Micron achieved their goal, which includes the use of key roles of Business Relationship Manager, Service Level Manager, and Service Manager. He will share details of his organization’s service relationships, OLA, and SLA processes, and he’ll discuss use of process metrics, service costing, service review meetings, and how they established benchmarks to promote a culture of continuous service improvement.

Our Service Catalog Journey At NIH
Mike Malone, Process Owner, Service Catalog Management, National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Code: Beyond Beginner

National Institutes of Health (NIH) is a very large, multi-faceted organization with a significant IT presence. A highly seasoned ITSM professional with over 30 years IT experience, Mike will profile several key elements of his IT organization’s successful Service Catalog implementation. His discussion includes: the challenges he faced as Process Owner gaining collaboration, coordination and acceptance among all work groups in the creation of a Service Catalog; details of how these challenges were addressed; process used to set up an effective team; how a process maturity model was utilized; how formal project management principles were utilized; how options were considered for tool selection; and insights on effective strategies and practices that enabled ITIL processes to move forward and lead to successful outcomes.

Code: Beyond Beginner

An “advanced” ITSM organization, over the years, Progress Energy has been a staple and highly valued at Pink’s conference program. From a case study profiling their configuration management implementation to sharing the details of a migration to SaaS for ITSM from Service-now.com for incident, problem and change management. Parallel to their increasing process maturity has been the ever expanding use of a CMDB to support these processes and the ultimate goal of closed loop change management. Sheri and Bill will provide an update on the benefits of their configuration item-centric model, maximizing relationships for troubleshooting and impact analysis, influencing expected behavior with CMDB reporting, metrics, and dashboards, aligning IT with the business by creating business services as CIs, leveraging auto-discovery and base-lining to uncover undocumented change.

Meet the 2009 ITIL Project Of The Year Award Winner! 

A communications and entertainment leader, Northwestel delivers a broad range of telecommunications solutions and television services to a population of 110,000 northern Canadians in 96 communities scattered across nearly 4 million square kilometers of the most remote and rugged areas of Canada – throughout the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, northern British Columbia and Alberta. All of Northwestel’s 500+ employees live and work in communities across the “great white north.” Northwestel’s operations include local telephone services, long-distance communications by microwave radio, fiber-optic cable and satellite, cable television, and advanced data communications, including High Speed Internet in many parts of its operating area. It also provides wireless services for northern customers through cellular, broadband wireless, wireless Local Area Networks, wireless Metropolitan Area Networks and trunked radio services.

The first year of the Northwestel ITSM initiative has focused on building business value by improving Incident Management and Change Management.

There will be three sessions presented:

Code: General    

Barb will provide a strategic perspective and discuss: the link between their ITIL project and her organization’s business challenges; the key strategic reasons ITIL was chosen to address these business challenges; how the project vision was communicated; the role and key activities of the executive sponsor; the project’s key business goals – how they were identified and communicated; and the project’s key business outcomes/successes.

Code: General

Jody will provide a tactical perspective and discuss: how and why Incident and Change Management were chosen as the processes to focus on during the first year; the approach the organization used for project management; key project roles and responsibilities; the most pressing implementation challenges and how these were overcome; and how new processes have been “cemented.”

Code: Beginner

Wes will provide a grass roots look at Change Management. He will present: a “before” and “after” view of this process explaining how the project evolved; the key best practices implemented and the results; and lessons learned and future plans for continual improvement.

Always valued and highly rated by conference attendees, Allstate’s sessions at the conference will include:

Join Sandy in Track 1 – Strategic IT Management – for an interactive presentation about her organization’s “green” strategy and how they have applied ITSM to help support Allstate’s business goals.  Click here to read her session description.

Code: General

In this session, Allstate senior consultant, Cathy Kirch, will highlight management practices and business curriculums used to train IT staff on ITSM frameworks and other industry standards beyond ITIL. Cathy will discuss the competency model for both service management and project management: what it is; how it’s used; and how it has been standardized and formalized. The session will also include an overview of the process used for planning and organizing IT-wide education: how it works; the tools used; and examples of benefits their IT organization has gained through this process.

Code: General

Join Dave as he highlights details about how IT Service Management (ITSM) has been applied at Allstate, with significant business impact. Dave will take you on a journey through the beginnings and current state of ITSM at Allstate, profiling key milestones, challenges and successes, as well as lessons learned along their multi-year journey. Dave will also discuss why and how key processes around Service Management are constantly being reinstated or revamped as a product of the company changing and evolving. Dave will highlight the importance of going back to the basics as you mature your ITSM program. He’ll explain what this means as it relates to his specific areas of responsibility within Infrastructure and Application Development, as well as a wider IT and Service context.

Track 8 – Implementing Tools & Technology

Code: General

Join five highly experienced and seasoned IT professionals who will share one tip each (a lesson learned, advice, a proven method or a best practice used) for how to successfully navigate through the selection, implementation and ongoing successful management of tools and technologies that support ITIL processes. The “tools and technology” component of implementing ITIL is often mismanaged by many IT organizations and as a result, tools act as a major hindrance and barrier when they should be a critical enabler to success.  There is a very definite right way, versus a wrong way, to manage this very important aspect of your ITIL implementation. Don’t miss this invaluable session to get real world advice from those who’ve seen it all!

Track 9 – Service Operations

Code: Beyond Beginner

A highly seasoned IT service support expert, Aale will answer this question – and you may be surprised! He will start by sharing his observations, based on close to three decades of working in the ITSM and ITIL realms, about how and why many people still confuse Incident and Problem Management. You may think you have it right, but don’t be so sure … Aale will set the record straight. While these are most definitely “sister” processes, many IT organizations still have very cloudy definitions about what they are and what they are not. One problem with Problem Management is that it is more complex than people think. It is multi-dimensional and many only take a one dimensional view.  Furthermore, Aale will explain why he thinks V3 has created further cloudiness by changing some concepts and processes without proper positioning and explanations. This is a not-to-be-missed session if you want to really understand how Problem Management should work.

In this educational session, Rae will review: major job responsibilities for the role of problem manager; must-have skills and attributes; suggestions for courses and ITIL certification paths; other options for value-add education; and specific tips for how to be a highly effective problem manager. Rae will give you guidance from both sides of the fence – she has been a senior service desk manager for a global operation that included Problem and Change Management, and she is a highly experienced consultant with twelve years ITIL experience who has helped many organizations strengthen their operational processes.

Code: Beginner

In this case study presentation, Carolyn will profile her organization’s Change Management roll out, which they started in 2009.  She will discuss: how and why they linked their project objectives to bigger enterprise-wide goals of becoming more compliant with security legislations; the new procedures and policies developed and implemented for RFCs and the tie-in to their organization’s security management process; how they managed the people side of change including how music was used to create fun “change” themes; why not having a budget for implementing Release Management didn’t stop them from rolling out a “light” version, and how this was accomplished; and a summary of lessons learned and future plans.

Code: Beginner

Lee’s organization provides professional services to the US government. One offering is a rapid transformation Service Desk program where they convert a traditional help desk into an ITSM focused Service Desk using best practices drawn from ITIL, HDI and ISO – usually showing results within 90-100 days! How is this done? Lee will share details of their “boot-camp” style methods including how they develop and execute training plans and implement key operational processes to gain quick wins that help gain support for further process implementation. The session will also describe some common tools used to accomplish the transformation, in what order to apply the steps to transformation and some tips on developing your biggest asset, your people.

Code: General

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is a very large, multi-faceted organization with a significant IT presence. A ten year veteran of the IT customer support industry, Phil will discuss his organization’s challenges, trials and tribulations, and successes as they evolved from a Help Desk to an IT Service Management focused Service Desk. Phil’s presentation covers: the transformation of their very large internal organization – what was the “before” picture and how they determined what needed to change; how they articulated a vision and set objectives; the process of creating buy-in from skeptical IT service partners and customers in adopting the necessary ITIL processes – what worked and why; the process used to select and implement the right tools to support the objectives; steps taken to “cement” a service-based climate and a summary of major improvements made that radically changed IT support.

Samantha Reed, Support Engineer, REI
Ryan Stoughton, IT Professional, REI
James Farrer, ITSM Engineer, Brigham Young University
Kavitha Durgampudi, IT Senior Manager, Staples

Code: General

This highly interactive panel discussion and audience Q&A will include IT service management and service catalog experts from REI, Staples and Brigham Young University. Questions and areas for discussion will include: How do you distinguish between service portfolio and service catalog? How did you select the services published in your service catalog? How many services do you offer in your service catalog and is this number appropriate? Do your customers understand the value or cost of the services you provide? How has your service catalog helped improve customer service and satisfaction? How is the rest of the business (outside of IT) using your service catalog? How actionable is your service catalog?

Code: Beyond Beginner

IT projects are becoming of greater importance and visibility, for which professional project management know-how and skills are essential. The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is a set of project management guidelines that were created by The Project Management Institute (PMI). The purpose of these guidelines is to help increase the success rate of major projects. During this session, Graham – who holds project management certification – will highlight how IT managers can apply PMBOK to help with their major improvement initiatives, including ITSM and ITIL projects. Graham has helped many IT organizations plan, organize and execute major change. Attend this session to benefit from his vast knowledge and practical experience. His presentation will cover the five lifecycle phases of PMBOK, including a description of each one, and the nine knowledge areas of PMBOK, including the processes and activities involved with each one.

Code: General

Join Jack for this introductory level session to learn about an IT governance model introduced by The International Standard Organization (ISO). The model provides a framework for effective governance that assists senior managers in understanding and fulfilling their legal, regulatory, and ethical obligations with respect to their organizations’ use of IT.

ISO 38500 is applicable to organizations of all sizes, including public and private companies, government entities, and not-for-profits. The standard provides guiding principles on effective, efficient, and acceptable use of IT. It’s organized using a model which governs IT through three main tasks: Direct, Evaluate and Monitor. These provide guidance for the applicability of the six principles of good corporate governance, which include: Responsibility, Strategy, Acquisition, Performance; Conformance, and Human Behavior.  Jack’s session includes an explanation about the ISO and a summary of its IT related standards and certifications; an overview and explanation of ISO 38500’s components and principles; status of ISO 38500 certification; and an explanation about the tight alignment between COBIT, ITIL and ISO 38500.

Code: General

Many conference attendees aim to network with others in similar industries, roles, and situations, to expand learning and exchange ideas and best practices. These are all very good goals, but what exactly is the best way to get the most out of networking opportunities? Maybe you’re on your own; how do you meet people? Kirk will tell you everything you need to know! He’ll not only give you many tips for how to successfully network at this conference, but he’ll also guarantee that you’ll leave this session with several new friends and contacts!   

This session is presented twice, once as a Sunday Optimizer on Sunday afternoon, and again as a Breakfast Club session on Monday morning.

Code: General

A conference favorite, Kirk is back with this “books for breakfast” session. Join him as he shares some of the latest books that he highly recommends and are currently on his must-read list. Kirk believes these books are excellent aids to help you on your journey of professional and personal growth.

Code: Beginner

Each of five IT managers – all highly experienced and seasoned IT practitioners – will share one tip each (a lesson learned, advice, a proven method or a best practice used) for how they and their colleagues successfully navigated through the ITIL start-up process and the first couple of years of major improvements.  This includes raising awareness, building excitement for change, developing and executing education and training plans, identifying quick wins, gaining senior management support, assigning key project roles and deciding where to start.  No theories here!  Don’t miss this valuable real-world perspective.

Code: General

In this insightful session, Martin will take you through a laundry list of 5 key teaching points from Mike Orzen and Steve Bell’s book, Lean IT, to illustrate how to apply the principles of Lean IT to your ITSM and ITIL initiatives. Martin is a multi-year ITSM veteran, and while at Capital One, was one of the first practitioners in North America to implement ITIL best practices. Since then, he has acquired extensive knowledge about how to successfully apply many best practice frameworks.

Mike Orzen and Steve Bell, authors of Lean IT, are presenting two sessions at this conference. Click here to read their sessions.

Code: General

IT organizations have been struggling for the last 10 years to adopt best practice frameworks such as ITIL in an effort to bring IT under control. However organizations have generally failed to realize the promised benefits of ITIL.  There is nothing wrong with ITIL. It is the way in which we (mis) apply it and the way in which we (mis) manage IT. IT is becoming increasingly important; we can no longer afford to fail to bring IT under control using best practices such as ITIL.

Track 13 – The Situation Room

Matthew Hooper, Inforonics, Inc.
Mike Malone, National Institutes Of Health (NIH)
Mauricio Corona, Pink Elephant
Ian Reddy, Cisco Systems, Inc.
Don Cholish, Numara Software, Inc.

Code: General

Track 14 – Networking Focus Groups

Track 15 – ITIL & ITSM Workshops

Code: Beyond Beginner

Designed for senior IT managers, this engaging and information-packed half-day workshop, presented by renowned executive educator and former award-winning Stanford business school professor, Dr. Lynn Phillips will teach you how leading IT services organizations can choose a winning customer value proposition (VP), and then architect and systematically execute a designed value delivery system (VDS) to deliver that VP profitably. Dr. Phillips is one of the original co-creators and developers of many of the essential customer-focus and value-delivery frameworks, concepts, tools, and disciplines that are employed by leading companies worldwide to hone their competitive edge, reinvent their businesses, and drive sustained growth.

The methodologies and protocols developed by Dr. Phillips help business teams to “become” their targeted customer community by “spending a day in their life,” thereby gaining an imaginative understanding of their unmet needs, transcending what the customers themselves could imagine on their own. This breakthrough approach, pioneered by Dr. Phillips and his co-authors and colleagues, is now the de facto standard deployed by countless leading-edge companies pursuing new-business opportunities.

Dr. Phillips is also presenting a breakout session version of this workshop in Track 1 – Strategic IT Management.