I can’t believe 2013 finally came to an end and here we are…2014.  Yes, I haven’t been very active in the past year and the reasons are many, but I think the most important one is simply that 2013 has been a “meh” year.  To recap on why “meh” is my theme of review for 2013, here are a few key (lackluster) milestones from the past year:

ITIL

In July, Capita announced that their new brand for ITIL is to be called AXELOS.  Great.  There’s a new venture called AXELOS and it’s pushing ITIL to be the “global best practice.”  Besides a few workshops, talk of changes to training and accreditation schemes for professionals, and an overly priced ITIL exam app (at $13.99 it’s one of the most expensive ITIL apps on iTunes), there honestly hasn’t been much going on in the ITIL world.  The biggest change has been a general uneasiness towards ITIL and a focus to look to other frameworks and methods as part of ITSM.

ITSM

The biggest thing in ITSM for 2013 has been the SM Congress…and even that was a flop.  When the whole SM Congress came about (beginning with the ‘Revolutionary Think Tank’ prior to the Fusion 13 conference), I’ll admit that my ego was hurt not to have been a part of the shenanigans.  I did get over my ego (it helps that it’s very small and easily healed with a Taco Bell bender) and I decided to sit back and watch all the events unfold.  Of course, after things unfolded it became obvious that this wasn’t a true revolution.  Despite my belief in the ideals and hope that the movement could help a stagnate community, the common revolutionary signs were missing such as 1) there being conflicts prior to a declared revolution 2) no specific call-outs for what should be changed and 3) a general feeling that many egos (besides mine) were hurt, and that only means members of the community would go against the revolution out of sheer spite.  Not only were the signs missing, but I think there’s a disregard for the fact that some participants of the movement receive paychecks from companies that may not quite have the same ideals.  I’m still waiting to see if anyone will quit their job out of a disagreement of philosophy, but so far there hasn’t been anything except a few blog posts and arguments over the execution, and even those ended pretty early.

 ITILandMe

I really couldn’t ignore my own blog for 2013 – it’s definitely hit the “meh” state.  Sure, there were a couple of blog posts on Israel from my trip, and it’s always nice to see a Tweet or link to an article I wrote some time ago (the Chuck Norris one still gets people laughing), but besides that I’ve been quiet and just working.  Honestly, ITSM hasn’t been too exciting lately and I haven’t felt the need to simply rehash the boring news.  I do have to give credit to The IT Skeptic and his Slow IT movement; in reality IT should only change at an acceptable rate to focus on what matters.  Unless you’re some cool start-up tech company that has five employees and is bringing out a new product that will automate everything in IT, and do it easily and cheaply, there’s credence to simply slowing down.  Should I plan on being a little more active in 2014?  Absolutely!  Will it happen?  I’ll tell you in 2015.

That’s it.  On to my usual pattern when it comes to “end of the year” blog posts…

…see ya 2013, don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

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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.