Agile is not the absence of ITIL!

Operation Golden Phoenix

By G C Network | July 22, 2008

This week, Dataline is participating in Operation Golden Phoenix. Operation Golden Phoenix is a four-day multi-agency collaborative training event designed to assist federal, state and local agencies with large and…

DISA Reaches out to Industry on Cloud Computing

By G C Network | July 21, 2008

In an interview with Computerworld , published in the New York Times, John Garing expanded on his goals for the DISA cloud computing initiative. Garing said that, “… he and…

Cloud Computing is $160B Market

By G C Network | July 18, 2008

According to the Financial Post, a Merrill Lynch Note estimates that cloud computing could be a $160B market by 2011. The companies that they see in the marketplace are shown…

SOA-R Educational Series: What is Cloud Computing

By G C Network | July 18, 2008

On July 16th, SOA-R held it’s first of six educational sessions on cloud computing for national security missions. Presenters during this first event were: Steven L Armentrout, PhDPresident & CEOParabon…

Gartner: Cloud Computing Fraught with Security Risks

By G C Network | July 17, 2008

Cloud computing is fraught with security risks, according to analyst firm Gartner. Smart customers will ask tough questions, and consider getting a security assessment from a neutral third party before…

The Definition of “Net-centric”

By G C Network | July 16, 2008

Last week, the Google Cloud Computing Group debated the definition of net-centric. The key thought was that net-centric was nothing more than internet-centric or basically “online” and therefore it really…

Cloud Computing Journal Launched

By G C Network | July 15, 2008

“The world’s first journal devoted to the delivery of massively scalable IT resources as a service using Internet technologies has been launched by SYS-CON Media. The all-new “Cloud Computing Journal”…

SOA-R First Session Presentations Announced

By G C Network | July 14, 2008

The presentations for the first session of the SOA-R Educational Series sesion have just been announced: Steven L Armentrout, PhDPresident & CEOParabon Grids, Clouds and Computation: Getting to Ground Truth…

Cloud Storage as a Service

By G C Network | July 14, 2008

In SAN vs cloud storage – a gray or silver lining? , Joseph Hunkins review last December’s observations of cloud storage by Chris Mellor of Techworld: “Google does not use…

Google: Model for the Systems Architecture of the Future

By G C Network | July 14, 2008

In December of 2005, Prof. Paul A. Strassmann of George Mason University, provided an excellent outline for cloud computing success in a netcentric environment: Network-Centric Requirements (2010)• Downtime ( 1…


 by
Jodi Kohut
ITIL (formerlyknown as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library) has been the best management practices framework of choice for world class IT Operations organizations.  The 5 stage framework: Service Strategy, Design, Transition, Operation, and Continual Service improvement allows for structured processes that support Enterprise Architecture, Service Delivery, and Security initiatives.  Structured and controlled planning and change are the bywords here.

 

A major driver of the cloud is efficiency and a betterallocation of technical resources. As a result, executives are considering more use of Agile or DevOps frameworks to speed up the delivery of valuable services to end-users. I’ve heard more than one of my colleagues speculate that this shift signals a move away from ITIL.  After careful consideration, I suggest there are three reasons why a “both and” approach will provide more benefit to the organization:


1.) Agile improves the delivery time of an ITIL- inspired service.  Using mature service strategy and design processes of ITIL, Agile teams can validate the architectural and SLA requirements prior to developing and releasing a product or change. 

2.) Continuous delivery means less risky changes for Service Transition.  Agile allows for the riskiest changes to take place first, and within a controlled development environment. Operations personnel are working more closely with Agile teams up front during service design and can have their needs considered during development. In short, continuous integration promotes (forces?) collaboration.

3.) Security operations are improved. The collaboration that using Agile within the bounds of ITIL necessitates enables security considerations to be embedded into the Service Strategy and Design processes.  Agile teams can deliver based on security aware requirements, rather than security teams having to secure an already developed service.

Contemporary cloud services provide the ideal place for Agile and ITIL to meet. First, teams can quickly provision cost-effective pre-production environments where building a continuous integration pipeline is possible.  Second, this cloud based pre-production environment provides a collaboration space for development and operations teams to work together to transition a service to the Operations team, already tested and secured. 

Organizations that find a way to integrate Agile and ITIL will likely see a realization of improved collaboration, resulting in less time to release secure and compliant services to end-users.

(This post was written as part of the Dell Insight Partners program, which provides news and analysis about the evolving world of tech. To learn more about tech news and analysis visit Tech Page One. Dell sponsored this article, but the opinions are our own and don’t necessarily represent Dell’s positions or strategies.)

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