The one where we discuss what’s happened in the last year – the industry, the podcast, and us as people… We have had a year of absorption around AI and experience – what lies ahead..?. As people there have also been opportunities and challenges – and none less than for Ian, who has had to face some major health challenges. Thankfully he’s met them and on the mend. We are good to go for 2024 – lookout for some new podcast options..!

This week Ian and Barclay discuss some recent industry events, SDI Spark, itSMF UK, SMW and also the sad demise of itSMF USA. It’s also a year since the launch of ChatGPT – what will the next phase of this involve..?  Ian also mentions the concept of the ‘Innovathon’ – crazy ideas presented for innovation. What about robots that kill you…!? Or how can we really get some goodness from the AI revolution? Then we get silly and imagine a giant ‘clippy’ controlling us all…  Plus, look out for some new themed podcasts in 2024.

ESM revisited – what do we really mean by this? It was the original thought behind this podcast when started a couple of years ago. There’s always something new that comes along to get in the way of this, but it keeps on coming back – like the way CMDB remains as a brand and something we should do that we keep coming back to. Whilst we might want to focus on ESM, the world of marketing always loos to the next shiny thing… In this discussion we focus on some of the key elements in ESM which is effectively about how we work and pass work between us. The challenge often is how we get this moving and approved in a large organisation, where there are different agendas. Also we discuss what might be the next big shiny thing…??  Whilst there is talk of flow and digital and tools and projects and stuff – talking of flow, we move on to the bar for another, er ‘sandwich… ?’

We discuss the forthcoming itSMF UK conference in the UK, where James will be speaking and discussing Neurodiversity. This in relation to how we understand and work better with neurodiverse people – there are some roles and areas of work where there are particular skills and capabilities where the ‘superpower’ moniker works, and many where it doesn’t. The challenge is knowing the difference and how to manage people and get the best from them and for them. We also look forward to the next ‘emergent’ and ‘convergent’ things for our industry – these may include AI, governance and many other options, but it should be about doing things differently. Experimentation, elevated evolution, synchronicity, sustainability. How do we get away from doing the same old stuff..? The discussion is also peppered with conference and event references – ahead of the much anticipated ITSM23 conference.    

Is it a coincidence that ITSM sage Roy Atkinson will be speaking at The SDI Spark conference on Halloween? Maybe not, but he will certainly be presenting some quite terrifying statistics on the cost of failure in IT and Service Desks… For this podcast, Roy’s second appearance on the podcast, we discuss these stats and numbers, as well as some general trends in the industry. We also discuss the big metrics question – i.e. what do you do to respond to feedback? What actions do the metrics lead to? Are we really data-driven? We also discuss Roy’s favourite sandwich...

Ken returns to the podcast, now head of analyst relations at Freshworks, having moved from a major analyst firm to ‘the dark side’ - or the bright side, depending on your perspective! The discussion looks at how we view different roles and activities in our industry – particularly when seen from a different perspective. There are some great insights into analyst relations and the ethics and effort that goes into that, as well as the momentous definition of the ’perpetual confusion of IT managers’ – Classic!! All linked to the current beer/hops crisis. Listen on… (Ken’s voice get a little muffled at one point – he then changed his mike so it doesn’t last long).

What have we (Ian and Barclay) been up to,..?  Mapping, Wardley mapping, sustainability is service management and vice versa?, just use the best bits that work for you, why do people ask if ‘this is right according to BP’? Watch out for the best practice police, perfection is the enemy of execution, proportionality, move fast and break things – is this terrible and dangerous? Back to sustainability, and quality without paralysis. We’ll all make mistakes and resilience is key – like having a well-stocked bar… Yes it’s a service management word salad that makes perfect sense…

Simone is making her 2nd appearance on the podcast and this session is a discussion based on some current research that Ian, Simone and Barclay are working on. This is basically exploring the contrasting direction of AI capability with the growth of human and experience management. The discussion includes some agreements and also some challenges and disagreements – all of which make for fun and entertainment… and the word ‘dystopia’ features… it’s a crackling chat..!

Our guest is Anthony Orr, who is an experienced and well-known member of the ITSM community, as a member of the HDI top 25, with BMC and other vendors, and as an ITIl author. Anthony currently works with SDI Presence, which is an MSP that provides local levels of support (not the Service Desk Institute…). The discussion moves from internal IT transformation and business value to the wider scope of ESM and the ‘Zero Moment of Truth’..! i.e. how we can get smart to support customer success, not just fixing tech. In IT we do a lot of the right thigs but they are not connected – how do we move from transactional compliance, to compassion and customer success..!? Well, as ever we end up wine-tasing… Definitely worth listening and quaffing to..!

This is a short Ian and Barclay only discussion episode, introduced with some valuable advice on armadillo-related honey - yes..!?.  Actually, we discuss the notion of how we can manage teams and plan the levels of staffing that is needed, and how this is a key element in much operational and management thinking. The regular cry is that ‘more people in the team will mean we get things done better/faster’, although this not necessarily the case. We also discuss some of the different approaches to getting work done and include governance, the ’why’, plus also how we still need management, no matter how ‘agile’ we are… Well of course. This is a very focussed conversation, given that we started with armadillos.