ITIL: A Foundation for Project Success 
Alan S. Koch
President
ASK Process, Inc.

Introduction:

At its heart, quality is a matter of meeting the business need. In most projects, obtaining a clear understanding of the business need and translating that understanding into product specifications and a project plan can be one of our biggest challenges.

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) is a process model for IT Service Management, just as the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI®) is a process model for product engineering projects.

Can a model that is not about projects help us with our development projects? Absolutely! ITIL can help us to assure the quality of the systems we develop by providing the basis for understanding the business need and taking action on that understanding. ITIL can be our foundation for project success by defining the context for our project and for the product we will build!

Learning Objectives:

  • Appreciate the value of ITIL
  • Understand ITIL's potential to improve software project performance

Outline:

  • What is ITIL?
    • History and general description
    • Service Delivery Processes
    • Service Support Processes
    • Other ITIL Processes
  • How does ITIL establish the context for projects?
    • ITIL activities before project initiation
    • Application development or enhancement projects
    • Bug fixes
    • Infrastructure upgrades
  • How does ITIL help to define “high quality” for products?
    • Involvement of key players before the projects
    • Defining project objectives and expectations
    • Beginning with the end in mind
  • How do we learn more about ITIL?
    • The ITIL books
    • Websites

Biography:

Alan S. Koch, PMP is a consultant, trainer, speaker and writer on effective Project Management methods. For over seven years, he has been President of ASK Process, Inc., a training and consulting company that helps companies to improve the return on their software investment by focusing on the quality of both their software products and the processes they use to development them.

Mr. Koch's 30+ years in software development include:

  • 14 years designing, developing and maintaining software
  • 5 years in Quality Assurance (including establishing & managing a QA department)
  • 10+ years in Software Process Improvement
  • and 10+ years in Management

Mr. Koch holds the ITIL Foundations Certification and has trained many other individuals who have successfully achieved their ITIL Foundations Certifications.