White Paper: Using Agile Integrated with ITIL

Process Elements to Create The Agile Technology Group

Phil Yarnall Director of Programmes Skills Evolution Limited www.skillsevolution.co.uk

Tel: 01737 843514

The Agile / ITIL Interaction Challenge

Agile delivers the potential for speed and high quality of software delivery, but how can the Services ITIL framework be used to achieve that speed all the way through delivery into live Technology operations?
Solutions Development
Service Design & Projects

Services Support

Service Service Operation Transition Live Portfolio into Live

Service 1 Service 2 Service 3

Project x Project y Project z

Issue 1
Often not enough effort is placed into understanding the business benefit and the cost / time / resources needed to implement the development into live operation

Solution 1
Development

Service Management Business Support

Communication improved through: The Service Management function Collection of requirements through Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management and Projects Feeding into Agile Sprint planning and individuals Scrums Connection to ITIL Release and Deployment processes

Issue 2
Creating the appropriate documentation for a release to facilitate speed and ensure required quality of live operations

Solution 2
Release docs Schedule
Using standard release documentation with a varying depth of content to match the risk or likely business impact of the release Using a Services Knowledge Management System, (SKMS), preferably within or integrated to the Service Management tool to store the release documentation and the scheduling of releases. This enables linking to Incidents and other Service Management events

SKMS + Service Management

Issue 3
During Early Life Support, having enough information available for the correct analysis of Incidents

Solution 3

Communication improved through: Preparing resources for releases, training, involving support staff in Agile demos Having clear boundaries for Early Life Support roles and responsibilities Formalising the hand-over of release notes with known errors Pre-deployment meetings for business to decide go / no go of release

Issue 4 & 5
Visibility to the Services Support operation and the Business operations of the Agile Backlog and how it was prioritised The conflict potential of speed of delivery versus the business impact risk

Solution 4 & 5
Development

Service Management Business Support

Communication improved through: Linking the system in development that holds the Agile backlog to the service management tool so the support teams are engaged in the backlog and its prioritisation / creation. Involving the services / business / developers in the prioritisation so it is not unilateral or arbitrary Clear and consistent criteria for prioritisation of the backlog

To obtain a case study on how this was delivered in a major UK corporation to create an Agile Technology Group contact:
Phil Yarnall Director of Programmes Skills Evolution Ltd phil@skillsevolution.co.uk Tel: 07867908770