What does “we’re different” mean anyway?  It’s something I heard at Fusion10 during one of the keynote speakers, and it’s something I also heard during the ABC’s of ICT hosted by President-elect (elect? – when does he officially take office?) Doug Tedder, and I’m sure I’ve heard it around my own place of work a few times (OK, maybe more than a few).  So it seems that this phrase comes up when we talk about implementing ITIL or ITSM improvements; or essentially, changing the culture.  The excuse of “it’ll never work here…we’re different” just seems to be get thrown around at one point.

OK, to give a quick review of ITIL…it’s a collection of “good practice.”  This means the processes outlined in the ITIL framework have been tried and tested by multiple companies in several different industries.  So obviously the methods in ITIL (or really in any other ITSM framework/method/canon) have been used by other companies to successfully improve their services.

Successfully improve.  This is the key concept to keep in mind.  If someone says “we’re different” as an excuse to not implement tested ITSM improvement methods, it’s as if they’re saying “we don’t want to be successful.”  In reality, if the company’s current processes and methods are fantastic and no one has any reason to even bring up ITIL/ITSM, then that organization would actually be the leaders in IT Service Management.  Ironically, people would be copying that particular culture and effectively eliminating why “they’re different” anyway.  If people in a company are talking about ITIL, or MOF, or ISO 20000, then something is wrong.  So the problem really is yes, you are different, and not in a good way.

The next time you’re pitching ITIL or ITSM to a coworker or client, keep an ear out for “we’re different.”  If you’re someone that can’t hold their tongue (like myself), a very direct and not politically correct response to that statement is “that’s the problem.”  Hence why improving IT Service Management begins with changing the culture.

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Started working in IT in 1999 as a support desk analyst as a way to help pay for food during college. Studied Electrical Engineering for two years before realizing biochemistry was more fun than differential equations, and so ultimately graduated with a Biology degree in 2006. Having (reluctantly) failed at getting accepted into dental school, embraced working in IT and has gone broke becoming an ITIL Expert. Likes to jog, sing camp songs, quote Mel Brooks movie lines and make dumb jokes and loves working for an Israeli tech company where December 25th is a regular work day.