I was lucky enough to be invited to attend Axelos’ ITIL 4 Train the Trainer session in Washington DC in November 2018. Hundreds of instructors applied to attend, and only about 100 were actually accepted across a few sessions worldwide. I feel . . .
→ Click to Read More of this Post: ITIL 4 Foundation: Train the Trainer]]>

Flippin’ the IV: November 2018, Washington DC. Axelos ITIL 4 Foundation Train the Trainer Session

I was lucky enough to be invited to attend Axelos’ ITIL 4 Train the Trainer session in Washington DC in November 2018. Hundreds of instructors applied to attend, and only about 100 were actually accepted across a few sessions worldwide. I feel very, VERY lucky to have been chosen. I think the only reason I was chosen was because of my ITIL Foundation LiveLessons product has done so well (thanks to many of you all! <3), and they knew I’d be wanting to create new courseware and hopefully another set of LiveLesson videos for ITIL 4.

The goal of these Train the Trainer sessions was simply to learn the differences between ITIL V3/2011 and ITIL 4. It wasn’t a full-blown ITIL 4 Foundation class, it was a “What’s different, let’s make sure you instructors understand it right here from the horse’s mouth, let’s all figure out together how you’ll teach these new concepts to your students, and let’s all take the official ITIL 4 Foundation Exam so we can be certified ahead of everyone else, and so we can give exam feedback to James The Official Axelos Exam Creator Guy.” It was a ridiculously helpful two days!

The absolutely magical Donna Knapp from ITSM Academy taught the class, and she did a spectacular job. (That’s her, on the right side of the photo.) It was so great to finally meet her in person! I’ve known about her for well over a decade, and I lost counting the number of people who ask me if we’re related. For the record, Donna and I aren’t related, though I wish we were because I admire her to the moon and back!

Before the session, we attendees were sent a final draft edition of the ITIL 4 Foundation book. We knew it wasn’t the official version, but it’s what existed at the time in November 2018. (The good news is that it was very, very close to the official version out now.)

We were all instructed to read it before class, and I dutifully did.

What I Like About the ITIL 4 Foundation Book

What I like most about it is its readability. It’s easy read and understand, and there is a little story that flows through the entire book making the concepts easier to grasp because you get to know each of the characters, their roles, and how these ITIL terms and practices relate to them.

It’s not a terribly huge book, either. It’s not intimidating.

I also admire the heck out of the authors… the team of writers responsible for this thing are some of the industry’s most important (and not to mention some of my favorite) ITSM thought leaders.

Some of the changes to the framework, what little we know about it since this is just a Foundation book, are really logical. They got rid of ITIL processes and functions and now call them all practices. How many times did we have to drill into students’ heads that “The Service Desk is the FUNCTION that does the Incident Management PROCESS.” So we don’t have to worry about that anymore.

Back in ITIL V2/V3/2011 we learned that a PROCESS is a step of steps for getting something done (for turning inputs into outputs). And ITIL 2011 had 26 processes. Like, the process steps for Incident Management are in order and make logical sense… you can’t categorize an incident until you log it, theoretically. But can anyone tell me the steps, in order, of the Information Security Management process, or the Availability Management process? Nope… because there aren’t really any super-specific steps, it’s just something you kinda do. So ITIL 4 gets rid of the word “process” in that sense and replaces it with “practice,” so you’d have an Availability Management practice. Aaaaah, much better.

It’s also nice to see ITIL aligning with DevOps and Agile, because every time I teach a class with anyone younger than 55 in it, everyone argues with me about Change Management and Release and Deployment Management, and how people can’t seem to get anything done without Change Management authorizing everything every step of the way. Now of course, ITIL is and has always been “just a framework,” meant to be adopted, adapted, and even ignored when necessary, but students eager to pass a test really stressed out about that. So it’s nice to see that.

What don’t I like about it?

It is super-confusing to me that a book called “ITIL 4 Foundation” can exist without any other ITIL 4 books. Like, what is ITIL 4 Foundation, um, founded on? It seems really premature. It’s like we’re just watching the movie preview even though there’s no actual movie yet.

I also wish that things had different names, because so many of the names and terms are confusing, especially to someone new.

The Service Value System, the Service Value Chain, and Service Value Streams are three very different things. Service Relationship Management and Relationship Management are two very very different things.

The activities of the Service Value Chain aren’t explained well to me, and no matter how many times I ask for clarification, nobody can clarify it for me… specifically the definition of the “Build/Obtain” piece. In Jill-language, this is the value-chain activity where we buy something or build something. Customer needs a new application? Okay great, let’s decide if we should buy it or build it. Awesome. Makes sense. “All new resources are obtained through the obtain/build activity.” Sweet. Makes perfect sense. But the ITIL definition is “The purpose of the obtain/build value chain activity is to ensure that service components are available when and where they are needed, and meet agreed specifications.” How on earth do you get “buy or build” outta that? And no matter how many times I ask, nobody can explain it to me. So I recognize I might be stupid here, and that I just need to accept it and memorize it and shut up about it. But MAN, do I hate not understanding something in my bones, especially when I have to teach it. Because what if one of my students needs clarification? I’ll be stuck.

What did I think of the ITIL 4 Foundation exam?

I felt like it was a very fair exam.

It was really, really cool and very helpful having James The Official Axelos Exam Creator Guy(“TOAECG” – haha) attend our sessions, so we could not only give him feedback on the actual ITIL 4 Foundation book itself, but so we could give him feedback on the Foundation Exam Syllabus and whether we thought we could teach it all in the recommended 12 contact hours. We were also able to give him feedback on the sample exams, as well as feedback on the real exam. We felt very heard, which we all appreciated so much.

One interesting thing that James The Official Axelos Exam Creator Guy told us is that on the new ITIL 4 Foundation exams, every single possible answer will be something real from ITIL 4. For example, in ITIL 2011 exams, you could get a question like,

“Which ITIL core publication would focus on the diagnosis of problems and identifying root causes?”
and the possible answers would be:
(A) Service Strategy
(B) Service Chewbaccas
(C) Service Operation
(D) Service Spam Spam Eggs and Spam

The correct answer is obviously (D) (C) Service Operation, but you’ll notice that answers (B) and (D) are totally made up things and completely unrelated to ITIL. My examples are silly, but on the real exams of the past, sometimes using totally fake (but plausible-sounding) answers was just cruel.

In the ITIL 4 Foundation exams, all possible answers will be real, actual ITIL 4 things; there won’t be any made-up terms. I appreciate that. We all thanked James TOAECG very much for that.

Was it an easy exam? Nope. Was it the hardest thing I had ever done? Nope. Was I glad I studied? ABSOLUTELY, and that’s coming from me, someone who has written books on this stuff.

If you’re an ITIL V3/2011 ITIL Expert, you can probably pass the ITIL 4 exam just based on your old V3/2011 skills and your smarts. If you’ve only got your ITIL V3/2011 Foundation cert and you took that class/exam a few years ago, then I wouldn’t take the exam lightly.

Personally: I read the entire ITIL 4 Foundation core book, I sat in an intensive two-day session filled with fellow ITIL Experts, and I studied my face off, and I got a 37/40. (I’m not going to lie and tell you I got 100%; I didn’t.) But I was pretty surprised I did that well– I did not feel very confident coming out of the exam session. So when it comes time for you to take the class and take the exam (I would wait until 2020, honestly), TAKE YOUR TIME. I surprised myself, but I was the last one of my whole class to finish my exam. It was tricky, for sure.

“So Jill! When will your ITIL 4 Foundation LiveLessons videos and study materials coming out?”

Not for a while. First off, ITIL 4 isn’t even out yet, though it will be any day now.

But besides that, I am a firm believer in “Never install a new operating system until at least one service pack comes out.” That same logic applies to ITIL and courseware, and especially applies to something like LiveLessons Videos that have to be as perfect as possible the day I create them, because making updates to them is nearly impossible.

So I want to wait until ITIL 4 Foundation has been out for a good while, and for the exams to have a chance to settle down a bit and get the bugs worked out, and to give myself time to get used to teaching it in the real world. I want to make sure my real-life students have solid pass-rates, and that I feel like I’m setting students up for success with my teaching methods, stories, and details. Like I always say when teaching 2011 Service Design: “You can’t rush awesome.”

When I created my ITIL 2011 Live Lessons videos in 2015, I had been teaching ITIL 2011 for a few years, so I was very comfortable with the material, I had my schpiel down, and there were very few do-overs. I want my ITIL 4 Foundation LiveLessons to be that effortless, and I’m sure you do, too. There’s no rush. Relax. You don’t win a medal or a monument if you’re the first person on your block to earn an ITIL 4 Foundation certificate.

Does that mean I’m going to wait 4 years before making the videos? Of course not! But I want to wait until I feel like I can make a really great product that is worthy of your time and money. Hopefully I’ll have something ready by the end of the year.

Until then, THERE’S NO NEED TO RUSH TO GET STARTED WITH ITIL 4 ON YOUR OWN. ITIL V3/2011 IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE, AND ALL ITIL V3/2011 PRACTITIONER and INTERMEDIATE CLASSES ARE ALL USEFUL AND FULLY TRANSFERABLE IN THE ITIL 4 SCHEME!

ITIL V3/2011 ISN’T GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL AT LEAST Q3 2020! YOU HAVE TIME!

ALL CAPS! ALL CAPS! DILUTE! DILUTE! OK! :-D

So with that, sit tight, and let’s take this ITIL 4 journey together. Patience, Grasshopper.

Thanks for reading!

Jill

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog, but there hasn’t really been much going on to report… until now!

A few months ago at the itSMF Fusion 2017 conference this past November, Axelos announced that ITIL will be updated in 2018. (Watch a video of the announcement here!) This is great news, because as an . . .
→ Click to Read More of this Post: Have you heard the news? ITIL 4 is on the way in 2019!]]> Hi, all!

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog, but there hasn’t really been much going on to report… until now!

A few months ago at the itSMF Fusion 2017 conference this past November, Axelos announced that ITIL will be updated in 2018. (Watch a video of the announcement here!) This is great news, because as an instructor, consultant, and practitioner, I’ve been feeling that some parts of the framework needed a nudge to be more current.

Here’s what we know so far:

You can read the official announcement and learn more on Axelos’ website.

I’m sure you’re all dying to know if I’m going to create new videos for the new edition of ITIL… and that answer is “Of course!” But I imagine those videos won’t be recorded for a good while. The new edition of ITIL is coming out sometime in 2019, and the exams probably won’t be ready until mid-2019 (I’m guessing, here). So it’d be silly for me to record videos until the new exams come out and settle down a bit. But keep your eyes peeled here and I’ll keep you updated.

I sure am excited about the ITIL update. How about you?

In this handy Excel spreadsheet, simply enter the exam start-time in the obvious box, and . . .
→ Click to Read More of this Post: Handy ITIL Exam Timer (It’s free!)]]> Are you an ITIL trainer? Do you also proctor exams? Do you struggle with calculating when to tell your exam-takers how much time they have left in an exam session? Well, your pal Jill did some mathing for you. Who loves ya? (Answer: ME.)

In this handy Excel spreadsheet, simply enter the exam start-time in the obvious box, and through the magic of Excel, the other boxes will automagically populate with the countdown times.

This tool works for all ITIL exams, from Foundation, Practitioner, all the way through the Intermediate exams.

Check it out:

Just enter the start time of your exam, and voila! (Click the image for a closer look.)

If you like it, just click here to download it.

I hope this is useful for you!

Enjoy,

Jill

Regardless of what training company you used when you took training from me (TEK Systems, New Horizons, ProTech, BridgeView, Knowledge Peak, Pultorak and Associates, . . .
→ Click to Read More of this Post: Need a copy of your ITIL Certification?]]> I get calls and emails all the time from former students who have lost their ITIL Foundation certificate, and need a copy quickly. I wish I could get it for you, but I can’t!

Regardless of what training company you used when you took training from me (TEK Systems, New Horizons, ProTech, BridgeView, Knowledge Peak, Pultorak and Associates, NETD, etc.), your exam itself was purchased from (and graded by) one of four Exam Institutes (“EI”s): EXIN, Loyalist Certification Services (LCS), PeopleCert, and APM Group (APMG).

One of those companies has your grade and your certificate… not me.

So let’s say your company hired TEK Systems to deliver an ITIL Foundation class at your workplace with me as your teacher. TEK Systems was your training company. I was just a contractor hired by them to teach the class. TEK Systems purchased exams from one of those four Exam Institutes I listed above (and to save you some trouble, TEK Systems happens to use EXIN as their Exam Institute.)

During class, I made you sign into the website of the Exam Institute (either EXIN, Loyalist Certification Services (LCS), PeopleCert, and APM Group (APMG)) that TEK Systems bought the exams from (again, TEK happens to use EXIN), and you created a username and password for the EXIN website, and also you gave EXIN your email and snail-mail address, plus a bunch of other information. Once you were done with your exam, I sent your exam paper to the Exam Institute to be graded. The EI then graded your exam and gave you your results via email. I was completely out of the picture by that point.

So, your grades are completely between you and your Exam Institute. Because I teach for so many companies, I can’t easily list out what training companies use which Exam Institute, especially because training companies can change EIs at any time– so maintaining an accurate and updated list here for you would be nigh impossible.

Hopefully that jogs your memory enough to remember which Exam Institute was used during your exam session, and now you can check a few places:

1. If you still have access to your ITIL Foundation workbook, you can look in the first section of your workbook and there should be a slide that talks about the exam… hopefully there is information about who your exam institute was. Because I have taught for many different training organizations over the years and they all use different workbooks, I can’t tell you where to look in your workbook because I don’t know what workbook you have.

 

2. If you still work for the same company you worked for when you took the training and exam, search your email for your certificate. Your certificate and exam results were sent to your email address. Search for “ITIL” first. If you don’t find anything, then try searching for the name of the Exam Institutes, which are EXIN, Loyalist Certification Services (LCS), PeopleCert, and APM Group (APMG).

 

3. If you don’t work for the same company anymore and no longer have access to your former job’s work email, then you’ll have to contact the Exam Institute directly. I have no way of knowing what Exam Institute used to take your exam, so you’ll have to check with each of them, which are EXIN, Loyalist Certification Services (LCS), PeopleCert, and APM Group (APMG).

 

4. If you checked the “Include my name in the successful candidate register” box when you signed up for the exam (it was in with all the privacy stuff, so many times people don’t check the box), then your name MAY be in the Successful Candidate Register maintained by AXELOS. (AXELOS is the governing body of ITIL– all of those Exam Institutes Report up to them.)   Look up your name; maybe it’s there!

 

5. Your last resort is to contact the company (not me, your trainer) who performed your training… sometimes their logo is on the cover of your workbook, and with any luck their contact info is also there. They can look you up since you (or your company) paid them for your training.

2018 UPDATE: If you took your exam in 2018, there is only one Exam Institute handling ITIL exams for every student and company worldwide; and that company is PeopleCert. So if you took your exam in 2018, check your email for anything from PeopleCert, or go to the PeopleCert website and simply log in there to grab a copy of your certificate. Easy peasy!

That’s all the information I have, but I hope it helps you out!

 

If you can’t get a copy of your certification, then I can certainly point you in the direction of a FANTASTIC series of ITIL self-study videos featuring ME! Once you watch the videos, you can go to EXIN or PeopleCert’s website and sign up to take the ITIL Foundation exam online from any computer with a webcam!

 
Best of luck!

–Jill

It seems like as soon as the syllabus and exams stabilize a bit, APMG changes . . .
→ Click to Read More of this Post: Another new version of the ITIL Foundation Syllabus is on the way…]]> The ITIL Foundation certification can feel like a moving target sometimes. We trainers and courseware providers especially feel this stress because we have to make sure our materials and presentations prepare our students for what they may be asked on the Foundation exams.

It seems like as soon as the syllabus and exams stabilize a bit, APMG changes the exam requirements which means we all scramble to get our courseware updated as fast as possible! This is why exam-preparation books like my ITIL V3 Foundation Exam Video Mentor become outdated… it’s hard to stay up to date when the creators of the exams keep changing the exam topics on everyone.

I’m not complaining by the way… this is just part of the job. But it’s one of the trickier parts…

The new ITIL Foundation syllabus will be released by APMG on July 31, 2012. They are also releasing new sample exams, too. As soon as we get them, you can bet I’ll be pulling a few all-nighters to get our courseware updated and aligned. I’ll also post a link to the new syllabus so you can check it out.

Right now, nobody knows how extensive these changes are going to be. It could be something as simple as adding or removing a few new vocabulary words or small concepts, or it could be something significant like adding entire sections, processes, and topics. It’s a mystery!

Stay tuned…

[UPDATE!] Great news, folks! The 5.4 syllabus update was super-teeny, and didn’t contain any updates to the materials; only updates to the footers courseware providers are supposed to use. So students– this means that you don’t have to change a thing. The sample exams also have not changed– the questions and answers are all exactly the same. Hooray!

Oftentimes, training companies have a few trainers on their roster. It’s up to you to make sure you’re . . .
→ Click to Read More of this Post: Questions to ask about your ITIL Instructor]]> Spending money on training is a pretty significant investment. Whether you’re funding your own training or choosing a training provider for an entire department, there are important questions to ask to help make sure you’re getting good value for your money.

Oftentimes, training companies have a few trainers on their roster. It’s up to you to make sure you’re getting their best instructor, so don’t be afraid to ask for the trainer’s qualifications.

Seek the answers to these questions either by asking them directly or reading the instructor’s résumé:

1. What level of ITIL certification does the instructor hold?
2. What technical skills and IT experience does the instructor have?
3. Do they hold any other certifications or qualifications?
4. Does your instructor have consulting experience, or are they only a trainer?
5. What is that instructor’s personal pass rate?
6. What industry conferences has your instructor been a presenter for? How do they keep their certifications and knowledge current?
7. What educational background does the instructor have?
8. What is the instructor’s teaching style? Are they all lecture? Do they get students to interact with each other?

Again, don’t be afraid to ask these questions. You’re not being nudgy; you’re being an informed consumer.

 
 
In case you’re wondering how I’d answer these questions, here are my responses. I’m listing these to give you a sense of what types of instructors are out there. :)

1. What level of ITIL certification does the instructor hold? (I have achieved ITIL Expert, the highest level of V3 certifications. Your trainer should hold no less.)
2. What technical skills and IT experience does the instructor have? (I have been a hands-on techie since the mid-90s, moving into management exclusively in 2003. Back in my techie days I worked as a deskside support tech, a DBA, a server admin, a network admin, and a Messaging admin. I’ve worked for small mom-and-pop shops and dot-coms, as well as industry leaders like Accenture.)
3. Do they hold any other certifications or qualifications? (I am also a Distinguished Professional in Service Management (DPSM) and a Master Trainer, in addition to my old-school technical certifications.)
4. Does your instructor have consulting experience, or are they only a trainer? (I am a seasoned IT Service Management / ITIL consultant as well as a trainer.)
5. What is that instructor’s personal pass rate? (The last time one of my Foundation students failed was in 2009. Afterwards I gave her one-on-one tutoring, and she passed with a 38/40 on the second try.)
6. What industry conferences has your instructor been a presenter for? How do they keep their certifications and knowledge current? (I’ve presented at many itSMF conferences, I’m a regular presenter with BrightTalk, and I’m an active member of the IT Service Management forum community. I’m also a published author in the ITIL space.)
7. What educational background does the instructor have? (I hold a BA in Education, and have served as Instructional Designer and Master Trainer for organizations in the US and Europe. I’m also on the faculty of Villanova University as their ITIL curriculum designer and adjunct professor.)
8. What is the instructor’s teaching style? Are they all lecture? Do they get students to interact with each other? (I combine lecture, exercises, discussion, and real-world application scenarios; in a fun, techie, professional atmosphere.)

The classes will not be offered for much longer, so you need to act soon!

APMG has scheduled the official retirement date of this class as June 30, 2011. . . .
→ Click to Read More of this Post: Time is running out for the Manager Bridge!]]> If you already hold an ITIL V2 Service Manager certification and would like the shortest path to a V3 ITIL Expert, then the Manager Bridge class is for you.

The classes will not be offered for much longer, so you need to act soon!

APMG has scheduled the official retirement date of this class as June 30, 2011. This will be the last component of the ITIL V2 qualification scheme to retire.

So for those of you sad to see ITIL V2 go away, join me in one final drink on June 30, 2011.

[] Which process is responsible for taking calls from end users and restoring their service . . .
→ Click to Read More of this Post: Yet more ITIL Foundation Exam Tips]]> Continuing our series on ITIL V3 Foundation Exam Tips, here are a few more things to keep in mind.

1. You’ll need to know the difference between processes and functions.
   Incident Management or Service Desk? 
   • Incident Management = the process
   • Service Desk = the function

   [] Which process is responsible for taking calls from end users and restoring their service ASAP? Incident Management, because it is the process.

   [] Which function is responsible for taking calls from end users and restoring their service ASAP? Service Desk, because it is the function.

 

2. How can you tell the difference between the activities of Change Management vs. Release and Deployment Management?
   • Change Management = Paper-pushing verbs (e.g., manage, coordinate, monitor)
   • Release/Deployment Management = Action / heavy-lifting verbs (e.g., build, test, install, execute, do, implement

   [] Which process ensures that all authorized changes have been successfully implemented? Change Management
       () Rationale: You’re being asked who ensures that the changes have been successfully implemented. “Ensures” is a paper-pushing word, not a heavy-lifting word.

   [] Which process installs changes? Release and Deployment Management
       () Rationale: Even though the question has the word “changes” in it, don’t rush to the wrong answer! You are being asked who installs changes. “Installs” is a heavy-lifting word, so it’s Release & Deployment Management. 

    

If you’d like more tips and tricks, check out my posts that fall under the “Exam Tips” category in the right-hand column.

Since ITIL was created in the UK, the ITIL books are written in UK English. If you speak American English, you should expect to see some differences in both language and . . .
→ Click to Read More of this Post: More ITIL V3 Foundation Exam tips]]> Continuing in the series of Exam Tips and Tricks, here are a few ways to help my American students navigate the British English often found on the exams.

Since ITIL was created in the UK, the ITIL books are written in UK English. If you speak American English, you should expect to see some differences in both language and spelling.

“Register” = To record; to type into a tool/database
“Register an incident” means “Open an incident ticket”
“Register an RFC” means “Fill out an RFC form”

“Agree the content”
Brits leave off the word “to” after the word “agree”
“Which process agrees the content of a Capacity Plan?” should parse as “Which process agrees to the content of a Capacity Plan?”

British spelling: S instead of Z
Organise = Organize
Utilise = Utilize
Optimisation = Optimization

These aren’t typos! I once had a student tell me that they didn’t choose a certain answer on an exam because they thought it was spelled wrong, and therefore a trick. Aaagh! It’s just the British English spelling; it’s not a trick. (Typos do happen on the real exams, however. If you’re unsure how to answer a question because of a typo, always ask your exam proctor.

 
If you’d like more tips and tricks, check out my posts that fall under the “Exam Tips” category in the right-hand column.