January 15, 2020 36 min read

ITIL ITIL4 Practice Guides

Continual improvement: ITIL 4 Practice

Guide
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This document provides practical guidance for the continual improvement practice.

Table of Contents
1. About this document

2. General information

3. Value Streams and processes

4. Organizations and people

5. Information and technology

6. Partners and suppliers

7. Important reminder

8. Acknowledgements
1. About this document

It is split into five main sections, covering:

general information about the practice

the practice’s processes and activities and their roles in the service value chain

the organizations and people involved in the practice

the information and technology supporting the practice

considerations for partners and suppliers for the practice.

1.1 ITIL® 4 QUALIFICATION SCHEME

Selected content from this document is examinable as a part of the following syllabuses:

ITIL Specialist Create, Deliver and Support

ITIL Specialist Direct, Plan and Improve

Please refer to the respective syllabus documents for details.

2. General information

2.1 Purpose and description

Key message

The purpose of the continual improvement practice is to align the organization’s practices
and services with changing business needs through the ongoing improvement of products,
services, practices, or any element involved in the management of products and services.

When a service provider adopts a practice to formalize, encourage, and manage improvement
as part of its regular activities, it embarks on continual improvement.
The continual improvement practice enables service providers to adapt to changing business
needs and maintain and increase the value generated by their service value system (SVS).
Service providers should:

adapt to changing circumstances

improve their overall capabilities to deliver and manage services efficiently. Failure to adapt
and improve will lead to a reduction in the value of services.

2.2 Terms and concepts

Definition: Improvement

A deliberately introduced change that results in increased value for one or more stakeholders.

Almost every action taken in an organization can be seen as an improvement activity.

Improvement means change; there cannot be a change to outcomes without changing the
current state.

Definition: Vision

A defined aspiration of what an organization would like to become in the future.

A vision may be a brief description of a future state, to which all parts of the organization and its
value network are required to contribute. The vision focuses on the organization’s ambitions,
but usually does not detail the ways in which these will be achieved.

All improvement initiatives need to cascade from the organizational vision. If any improvement
is not contributing, even in a small way, to achieving this vision, the change is probably not
necessary or useful.

Definition: Business as usual

 Typically, repeatable routine tasks that can be carried out by people with appropriate
technical skills without needing to be managed as a project.

An example of business as usual (BAU) would be when modifications or enhancements need to

be made to an existing product within a relatively short timescale. There would usually be a
long list of these tasks arriving regularly throughout the lifespan of the product. There may be
an established team dedicated to this work.

Definition: Improvement register

A database or structured document used to record and manage improvement initiatives

throughout their lifecycles.

People throughout the organization should be encouraged to record ideas in the improvement
register so that they can be assessed and actioned. Improvement is everybody’s responsibility,
including:

stakeholders

sponsors

customers

users

roles/teams responsible for service delivery

product and service owners

suppliers and partners involved in service delivery.

Definition: Feedback loops

Part of the output of an activity that is used for new input. In a well-functioning
organization, feedback is actively collected and processed along the value chain.
Well-constructed feedback mechanisms facilitate an understanding of:

end user and customer perception of value created

the efficiency and effectiveness of value chain activities

the effectiveness of service governance as well as management controls

the interfaces between the organization and its partner and supplier network

the demand for products and services.

Once received, feedback can be analysed to identify and validate improvement

opportunities, risks, or issues.

2.2.1 Involving service consumers

In service relationships, service providers and service consumers may share value stream
activities. Therefore:

some improvements may involve changes in service consumption

some improvements may affect service consumers directly.

These two factors should be considered when capturing improvement opportunities and
planning improvements. Service consumers and their representatives should be encouraged to
submit suggestions to the improvement register and should be involved in improvement
planning and risk assessment.

Service consumers should feel comfortable suggesting improvements to the service provider;
the service provider should plan and implement feedback channels for service consumers and
their representatives. Openness in communication and inclusion in the continual improvement
practice will help to build a valuable, effective relationship.

Service providers should work closely with service customers to ensure fast feedback loops and
to verify the improvement’s results and effects. Organizations that aim for fast and effective
continual improvement usually try to agree close cooperation with their consumers, removing
formal bureaucratic barriers in communication, collaboration, and decision-making.

2.3 Scope
The scope of the continual improvement practice includes:

establishing and nurturing a continual improvement culture

 planning and maintaining improvement approaches and methods throughout the
organization

planning and facilitating ongoing improvements throughout their lifecycles

assessing improvements’ effectiveness, including outputs, outcomes, efficiency, risks, and

costs

generating and incorporating feedback on improvements’ implementation and results.

There are several activities and areas of responsibility that are not included in the continual
improvement practice, although they are still closely related to continual improvement. These
are listed in Table 2.1, along with references to the practices in which they can be found. It is
important to remember that ITIL practices are merely collections of tools to use in the context of
value streams; they should be combined as necessary, depending on the situation.

Table 2.1 Activities related to the continual improvement

practice described in other practice guides

Activity Practice guide

Implementing improvements Project management

Software development and
management
Infrastructure and platform
management
Change enablement
Deployment management
Release management
Service validation and testing

Definition of vision and strategic objectives Strategy management

Analysis of flaws in a value stream Business analysis

Change authorization Change enablement

Providing tools to measure the current state and impact of Measurement and reporting
improvements
 Decision-making on the funding of big improvement Portfolio management
initiatives

Assessing risks against the desired improvement outcomes Risk management

Negotiating and agreeing joint improvement initiatives with Supplier management

partners and suppliers Relationship management

Informing and agreeing on improvements with service Service level management

consumers

Providing interfaces between the service provider and users Service desk
for feedback and improvement ideas

Managing the human aspects of large-scale improvement Organizational change

initiatives management

2.4 Practice success factors

Definition: Practice success factor

A complex functional component of a practice that is required for the practice to fulfil its
purpose.

A practice success factor (PSF) is more than a task or activity; it includes components of all four
dimensions of service management. The nature of the activities and resources of PSFs within a
practice may differ, but together they ensure that the practice is effective.

The continual improvement practice includes the following PSFs:

establishing and maintaining an effective approach to continual improvement

ensuring effective and efficient improvement across the organization.

2.4.1 Establishing and maintaining an effective approach to
continual improvement
2.4.1.1 Continual improvement model
The ITIL continual improvement model provides high-level guidance that supports
improvement initiatives. Using this model increases the likelihood that improvement initiatives
will be successful. The model focuses on customer value and links improvement efforts to the
organizational vision.

This model promotes an iterative approach to improvement; work is divided into manageable
pieces, which have defined goals that can be incrementally achieved. When using this model, it
is important to use logic and common sense. The steps do not need to be carried out in a linear
fashion, and it may be necessary to re-evaluate and return to a previous step at various points.

Figure 2.1 shows the ITIL continual improvement model.

Figure 2.1 ITIL continual improvement model

2.4.1.2 Improvement in complex environments

Large improvements in complex environments create significant change. It is important to
define the scale at which an initiative should be delivered using project management practices,
rather than BAU.

Although the approach promoted by the ITIL continual improvement model is generic and
applicable to any object of improvement, it is important for organizations to adapt the approach
and their methods to their specific environment. For example, it is important to consider the
typical timeframes in which challenges manifest.

Organizations functioning in complex environments, such as commercial IT service providers,

might need to pursue both long- and short-term improvement objectives. Such a service
provider should establish a flexible continual improvement framework that allows managers to
switch between techniques, depending on changing circumstances. Among many measurable
improvement techniques, two are likely to be simultaneously employed by complex
organizations:

Toyota Kata, a book written by Mike Rother1, discusses and promotes the principles of
scientific thinking and behavioural techniques for iterative improvements. Rother
introduces the Improvement Kata and the Coaching Kata: routines that aim to foster and
habituate beneficial patterns of thinking in readers to facilitate improvements in their
scopes of control. Rother’s Improvement Kata routines help practitioners to avoid making
assumptions based on biases and past experiences. Instead, practitioners think critically
and deliberately about challenges and opportunities, leading to iterative, measured, and
effective actions.

The OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) loop2 is an operational decision-making technique
and framework, originating from a military combat approach. OODA loops are designed to
be extremely short term and to run continuously until an immediate danger has been
eliminated.

This approach demonstrates agility overcoming power. The ‘orient’ stage is central to the
technique. It suggests a system of interrelated knowledge areas (traditions, heritage, previous
experience, new information, analysis, and synthesis) that a change agent can rapidly employ to
make conclusions. These conclusions, in turn, enable decision-making.

Organizational design can enable change agents in complex environments to be autonomous

and to rationally choose which path to take on their specific continual improvement journey.
Considering whether the danger of not improving is immanent or requires a long-term
management effort is crucial.

2.4.1.3 Embedding across the organization

A culture of continual improvement:

encourages stakeholders to suggest and support improvements

encourages stakeholders to express their needs, wants, and concerns and to take risks

recognizes that perfectionism is typically self-defeating and blocks timely improvements

considers continual improvement to be a BAU activity

 celebrates successful improvements

encourages fast feedback loops

promotes learning from failures rather than a blame culture.

It is critical that senior management is committed to developing a culture of continual

improvement in order to embed these values within an organization and enable a successful
continual improvement practice.

2.4.1.4 Promote continuous learning

Step 6 of the ITIL continual improvement model (did we get there?) should always be used to
capture lessons learned from improvement initiatives.

Successful improvement initiatives should review the achieved positive outcomes, both planned
and unexpected. If the expected results of the improvement were not achieved or were
achieved in a way that differed from what was planned, the initiative should be reviewed and
stakeholders should be told why it failed. This requires a thorough analysis of the improvement
initiative, documenting and communicating the lessons learned. The documentation should
include a description of what could be done differently in the next iteration, based on the
experience gathered.

Where possible, a lessons learned log should be kept throughout the initiative implementation.
This log should then be reviewed, producing a lessons learned report. Lessons learned reports
should be used for similar future improvement initiatives. Transparency is important for future
efforts, regardless of the results of the current iteration.

If Step 6 is skipped, improvements will likely remain isolated and independent initiatives and
progress may be lost over time. It may also be difficult to get support for future improvement
initiatives and embed continual improvement in the organization’s culture. It is important to
remember that a blameless environment, where it is safe to fail and the primary focus is not on
blaming someone but on learning the lesson, should be created and maintained.

2.4.2 Ensuring effective and efficient improvement across

the organization
2.4.2.1 Capturing opportunities
The continual improvement practice supports the improvement of all other practices, products,
and services. It is a core component of the SVS and be must be embedded in all other service
management practices. The volume of opportunities that are identified can be used as a metric
to assess how well the continual improvement practice has been established within an
organization.
2.4.2.2 Prioritization
Prioritization criteria must be transparent and applied impartially to all initiatives. When
prioritization is questioned or is unable to be clearly assessed, the initiative should be escalated
to a governance committee for further discussion.

Although all agreed outcomes will contribute to achieving the desired state, some will be more
critical than others. There may be a certain order in which changes must be made in order to
reach these outcomes. Some outcomes will require significant investment and others may be
achievable with minimal cost and effort. Low-cost, low-effort initiatives can be prioritized in
order to achieve a rapid increase in value for the organization.

2.4.2.3 Ownership
The owners of specific service, product, or practice value streams are accountable for managing
relevant continual improvement initiatives. These people should lead by example,
demonstrating and reiterating the value of improvement activities.

The continual improvement practice owner is accountable for managing the continual
improvement practice. This person ensures that the rest of the organization has the knowledge,
skills, and tools needed to identify, assess, fund, perform, and evaluate the outcomes of
continual improvement initiatives.

2.4.2.4 Resources
Collaborating in a way that leads to real accomplishment requires information, understanding,
and trust. Work and outcomes should be made visible. Hidden agendas should be avoided.
Information should be shared as much possible. When people are aware of what is happening
and why, they will be more willing to help.

When improvement activities occur with only a small group being aware of the details,
assumptions and rumours often prevail. Resistance to change may increase when staff
members speculate about what is changing and how it might impact them.

Working in short iterations that deliver value quickly and visibly reinforces the value that users
gain from the work being done, which in turn is motivational and rewarding for the teams
delivering it.

2.4.2.5 Funding improvement initiatives

A business case should articulate the reason for undertaking a service or process improvement
initiative. As far as possible, data and evidence relating to the costs and expected benefits of
undertaking an improvement initiative should be provided, noting that:
 SVS redesign activities are often more complex and therefore more costly than initially
expected

organizational change impact is often underestimated.

changed practices usually require changed competencies and tools, further increasing
costs.

When developing a business case, the focus should not be limited to the potential return on
investment but also on the business value that the improvement initiative would bring to the
organization and its customers (value on investment). This is because the measure of return on
investment alone does not capture the real value of service improvement. Should an
organization choose to focus solely on the potential return on investment, many of the potential
benefits will not be disclosed or reviewed. This could result in worthwhile initiatives being
rejected, or reviews mistakenly suggesting that certain initiatives failed.

Unsurprisingly, most business executives expect returns on their investments. It is important to

recognize that an investment in improvement, and its benefits, can vary depending on the

organization’s customer base, size, and maturity. Benefits will cross existing organizational
boundaries, and true benefits can only be captured in collaboration with users/customers and
service provider managers. The focus should therefore be to work with stakeholders to develop
business-specific and service-provider-specific indicators that link business value indicators to
contributions from the service provider. In other words, how does improvement add value to
the organization?

Examples of business value measures are:

time to market

customer retention

market share.

Service provider contribution can be captured through:

gaining agility

managing knowledge

enhancing knowledge

reducing costs
 reducing risk.

The service provider should begin by defining the types of business value to which each
improvement will contribute.

If an investment is well conceived, solid, and delivers results, it can lead to cost savings over
time. Therefore it is important to choose the right investments and ensure that they deliver.
When presenting a business case for an improvement initiative, it is important to help
executives to understand the business value of the initiative. Most executives over-emphasize
the value of technology and tools, when most benefits are realized from business changes. It is
important to address how people and practices will change, from the ‘as is’ to the ‘to be’ state.

In business case development, it is also important to consider situations where value will be lost
by not undertaking improvement activities. There will be situations where a failure to act will
severely impact the service consumers and the service provider; the value of an improvement
may be value retained rather than value added.

An excellent practice that can help to demonstrate return on investment is requesting funding
for a pilot project, a short-term project of limited scope that represents the suggested larger
scale initiative, which can demonstrate scalable results.

When developing business cases it is important to ensure that success criteria and their
measurements, including timescales, are clearly defined.

2.4.2.6 Evaluation
When an improvement opportunity is identified, the current state should be assessed so that
any improvement made can be measured, or understood, in the context of ‘where we started’.

Quantitative metrics can be used to measure actual performance of services and methods.
Qualitative metrics can be used to measure strategy, portfolios, and relationships with other
parties.

2.5 Key metrics

The effectiveness and performance of the ITIL practices should be assessed within the context
of the value streams to which each practice contributes. As with the performance of any tool,
the practice’s performance can only be assessed within the context of its application. However,
tools can differ greatly in design and quality, and these differences define a tool’s potential or
capability to be effective when used according to its purpose. Further guidance on metrics, key
performance indicators (KPIs), and other techniques that can help with this can be found in the
measurement and reporting practice guide.

Ideally, continual improvement is measured in terms of the impact of improvement activities on

the value generated by the SVS. This can be difficult to quantify because:
 Value in the SVS is the result of complex interactions within the system.

Many improvements may occur simultaneously. It may be impossible to distinguish the

impact of one improvement from the impact of another.

There is usually a significant delay between the implementation of an improvement and

the realization of its value.

Measuring value is easier if the continual improvement practice adopts Agile methods because,
when this is the case, stakeholders confirm value creation at every iteration boundary. This
effect is even more evident when product ownership is assigned to the customer or to the
people within the service provider organization who are closest to the customers.

Effective metrics will identify which areas of the organization are delivering continual
improvement initiatives. It is important to include the continual improvement practice itself in
the ‘management of continual improvement initiatives’ metrics.

Other metrics relate to the organizational achievement of continual improvement and are
designed to identify the services, products, or practices that have not delivered improvements,
or that are trying to deliver improvements that are too large. These metrics help to identify
which teams or stakeholders require additional attention from the continual improvement
manager.

Key metrics for the continual improvement practice are mapped to its PSFs. They can be used
as KPIs in the context of value streams to assess the contribution of the practice to the
effectiveness and efficiency of those value streams. Some examples of key metrics are given in
Table 2.2.

Table 2.2 Examples of key metrics for the practice success

factors

Practice success factors Key metrics

Establishing and maintaining an

effective approach to continual
Stakeholder satisfaction with the organization’s
improvement
ability to obtain value from improvement initiatives

Awareness and adoption of the continual

improvement approach across the organization

Adoption of the continual improvement culture

across the organization
 Ensuring effective and efficient
improvement across the
Return on investment and value on investment
organization

Percentage of successful improvement initiatives

Percentage of improvement initiatives realized in

line with planned timelines, costs, and other plans

Percentage and effect of improvement initiatives for

which negative outcomes and realized risks
outweighed planned positive outcomes

Continual improvement productivity index3

3. Value Streams and processes

3.1 Value stream contribution

The continual improvement practice is unique in that it contributes to the value of every other
practice and every component of the value stream. It is important to remember that a value
stream is never formed from a single practice. The continual improvement practice combines
with other practices to provide high-quality services to consumers. The continual improvement
practice should not be viewed in isolation: it is a key constituent of all other practices.

The contribution of the continual improvement practice to the service value chain is shown in
Figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1 Heat map of the contribution of the problem management practice to value
chain activities

3.2 Processes
Each practice may include one or more processes and activities that may be necessary to fulfil
the purpose of that practice.

Definition: Process

A set of interrelated or interacting activities that transform inputs into outputs. A process
takes one or more defined inputs and turns them into defined outputs. Processes define the
sequence of actions and their dependencies.

The continual improvement practice activities form one process:

management of continual improvement initiatives.

The continual improvement practice also includes a set of activities for embedding the practice
into the organization.

3.2.1 Management of continual improvement initiatives

This process includes the activities listed in Table 3.1 and transforms the inputs into outputs.
Table 3.1 Inputs, activities, and outputs of the management
of continual improvement initiatives process

Key inputs Activities Key outputs

Organization’s vision, Identifying and logging Improvement record

mission, and objectives improvement opportunities Updated CIR
Post incident reviews Assessing, prioritizing, and Draft business justification
Problem outcomes approving improvement Approved business
Baseline metrics justification Improvement
Practice target and initiatives
Planning improvement initiatives plans
achievement metrics Facilitating the implementation of Performance measurements
Customer satisfaction Change and project records
improvement initiatives
metrics Measuring and evaluating the Updated metrics
SLM practice reviews Lessons learnt
User and customer results of improvement initiatives
feedback
Assessment reports
Audit reports
Improvement record
Continual improvement
register (CIR)

Figure 3.2 shows a workflow diagram of the process.

Table 3.2 provides examples of the process activities.

Table 3.2 Activities of the management of continual

improvement initiatives process

Activity Description
Identifying and Capturing ideas for improvement is everyone’s responsibility and is a
logging improvement critical part of developing a culture of continual improvement. The
opportunities initial idea does not need to be detailed; it is a starting point for a
conversation about requirements and understanding the delta the
current state and the desired future state. The key step in this activity
is to log the improvement idea in the CIR, where it is assigned a
unique reference number.

Assessing, prioritizing, Improvement outcomes can have positive impacts on value in many
and approving areas. Typically, they will provide time or cost savings, enhance the
improvement user experience, reduce risk, improve culture, or achieve compliance
opportunities to regulations.
In Agile methodologies, reviewing and completing the incoming
ideas is referred to as managing the product backlog. The CIR can be
adapted to be managed as a backlog as well.
When CIR items have been prioritized, as should be done regularly,
funding and resourcing for the most important improvement
initiatives must be secured. A business justification should be used to
justify investing in an improvement initiative.
When asking for resources to begin improvement activities, it is
important to communicate appropriately with budget holders, such
as by referring to return on investment, clearly defined business
outcomes, and the organization’s vision.
The detail needed in a business case depends on the size of the
improvement initiative, not the project methodology being utilized.
Large initiatives need to engage formal project management or
change enablement methods and techniques in order to be realized.
Lean Canvas is an approach that can be used to create business
justifications to secure funding for small-scale initiatives. Lean Canvas
suggests delivering a single-page business model that deconstructs
an idea into a set of basic elements, presented concisely. These
elements are:

problem statement for the improvement

suggested improvement initiative (possibly with options)

key metrics of the improved object

value proposition

unfair advantage of the suggested option

customer segments

channels of value delivery

 cost structure

added benefits or revenue forecast.

There are alternative models, but the common idea is to perform due
diligence for the initiative and gain conscious approval before
resources are committed.

Planning The planning of approved improvement initiatives should be no

improvement different than the planning of projects, changes, or other types of
initiatives work of a similar scale. The business justification should contain basic
resource and timeframe planning according to the improvement
initiative’s priority. It is useful to have a priority scale for improvement
initiatives consistent with the priorities for other types of work in
which teams and resources may be engaged.

Facilitating Whether an initiative is being delivered using waterfall or Agile

improvement methodologies, the larger (approved and funded) initiative plan must
initiatives be separated into smaller tasks.
implementation Improvement is then realized according to the plan and
methodologies that were used.

Measuring and After an improvement or group of improvement initiatives is

evaluating completed and ready for delivery, it should be showcased to
improvement stakeholders in order to demonstrate and validate value co-creation.
initiative results Value co-creation must be confirmed at every iteration to measure
progress from the original state towards the agreed desired state by
comparing the outcomes to the agreed success factors and KPIs. If
the expected outcomes have not been fully achieved, gaps should be
prioritized and addressed in following iterations.
Lessons learnt should be captured for each improvement initiative.

Note: Feedback is an essential element of the continual improvement practice. It is important to

establish multiple feedback channels, formal and informal. Not all feedback will trigger changes
to the improvement plans, but all feedback must be respected and reviewed. Decisions made
as a result of feedback should be relayed back to the originator. If feedback is ignored or
unacknowledged, it will become harder to obtain in the future. Feedback that illuminates a
further improvement opportunity should be added to the CIR and prioritized.

3.2.2 Embedding the continual improvement practice into

the organization
The key outcome of this set of activities is ensuring that the continual improvement practice is
an organizational norm. This involves the adoption of various Agile behaviours, concepts, and
techniques.

This process includes the activities listed in Table 3.3 and transforms the inputs into outputs.

Table 3.3 Inputs, activities, and outputs of the embedding

the continual improvement practice into the organization

Key inputs Activities Key outputs

OCM practices Integration into Cultural change

Frameworks, methods, standards, organizational culture Adoption of best practice
philosophies, and/or bodies of Identification of that best serves the
knowledge, such as ITIL, Lean, Agile, relevant and valuable organization’s needs
DevOps, CMMI, Six Sigma and COBIT principles
Knowledge sharing
and capability uplift

Table 3.4 provides examples of the activities.

Table 3.4 Activities of the embedding the continual

improvement practice into the organization process

Activity Description

Integration into Senior management is important when changing behaviour. Senior

organizational managers must be role models; if they do not adopt the practice,
culture others will not adopt it either.
Senior managers should ensure that people are rewarded for
compliance. For continual improvement, this means ongoing
monitoring, analysing, reviewing, reporting, identifying, and
implementing initiatives.
It is necessary to ensure that the job descriptions are updated,
employee’s goals and objectives consider service management
responsibilities, and general expectations include continual
improvement activities.
 Identification of A successful continual improvement practice relies on several key
relevant and principles:
valuable principles
Focus on making incremental changes Large changes are riskier
and take longer to show results.

Learn from mistakes Some initiatives will not result in the

planned outcomes.

Encourage ideas throughout the organization Many successful

initiatives in large organizations originate with employees at the
operational level.

Measure Without measurement, it is impossible to know whether

improvement efforts are successful.

Knowledge sharing Knowledge sharing is a critical factor in the success of the continual
and capability uplift improvement practice. In cultures where knowledge sharing is not the
norm, successful improvements are likely to be limited and new
concepts are typically restricted to individuals or teams, rather than
being shared around the organization.
In organizations where knowledge is seen as a personal asset rather
than an organizational capability, it will be difficult to benefit from the
continual improvement practice.
A knowledge sharing culture must be promoted by senior managers.

Ideas for improvements may come from a variety of sources. Almost anyone within the SVS may
identify a potential improvement to any component of the SVS. Service providers sometimes
establish criteria that limit who may suggest improvements, but it is best to encourage
contributions wherever possible.

Various systems of record may be sources of improvement suggestions, either via automated
interfaces or manual reviews and data extraction. These systems include problem records, risk
registers, and process performance records.

In organizations with a defined product owner role, improvement suggestions are first
submitted to the product owner of the relevant product. The product owner may then filter and
adjust the suggestions and add them to the CIR.

4. Organizations and people

4.1 Roles, competencies, and responsibilities
The practice guides do not describe the practice management roles such as practice owner,
practice lead, or practice coach. They focus instead on the specialist roles that are specific to
each practice. The structure and naming of each role may differ from organization to
organization, so any roles defined in ITIL should not be treated as mandatory, or even
recommended.

Remember, roles are not job titles. One person can take on multiple roles and one role can be
assigned to multiple people.

Roles are described in the context of processes and activities. Each role is characterized with a
competency profile based on the model shown in Table 4.1.

Table 4.1 Competency codes and profiles

Competency profile (activities and skills)

Leader Decision-making, delegating, overseeing other activities, providing incentives and

motivation, and evaluating outcomes

Administrator Assigning and prioritizing tasks, record-keeping, ongoing reporting, and

initiating basic improvements

Coordinator/communicator Coordinating multiple parties, maintaining communication

between stakeholders, and running awareness campaigns

Methods and techniques expert Designing and implementing work techniques,

documenting procedures, consulting on processes, work analysis, and continual
improvement

Technical expert Providing technical (IT) expertise and conducting expertise-based

assignments

Examples of roles which can be involved in the continual improvement activities are listed in the
Table 4.2, together with the associated competency profiles and specific skills.
Table 4.2, Examples of roles which can be involved in the
continual improvement activities together with the
associated competency profiles and specific skills

Competence Description
code

L Leader. This role focuses on leadership skills and authority. Activities

associated with this role include decision making, delegation, oversight of
other activities, incentives and motivation, and the evaluation of outcomes.

А Administrator. This role focuses on administrative skills. Activities associated

with this role include the assignment and prioritization of
tasks, record keeping, ongoing reporting, and basic improvement initiatives.

C Coordinator/communicator. This role focuses on

communication and coordination skills. Activities associated with this role
include the coordination of multiple parties, communication between
stakeholders, and the running of
awareness campaigns.

М Methods and techniques expert. This role focuses on consulting skills and
expertise in work methods. Activities associated with this role include the
design and implementation of work techniques, the documentation of
procedures, consulting
on processes, work analysis, and continual improvement.

Т Technical expert. This role focuses on technical (IT) expertise and expertise-
based assignments.

Table 4.3 Examples of roles with responsibility for continual

improvement activities

Activity Responsible roles Competency Specific skills

profile
Management of
continual
improvement
initiatives

Identifying and Service provider CMT Submissions will be

logging staff (leaders and improved if the submitter
improvement team members) has a good knowledge of
opportunities Stakeholders the service, product, or
(possibly via value stream to be
product owners) improved

Assessing, A team member, LACTM Good understanding of

prioritizing, and manager, or coach the ITIL continual
approving External consultant improvement proficiency
(Any team
improvements model and the object of
members may
the improvement
provide input to
assessment)

Making business Team leader MTC Ability to concisely

cases Responsible team present
for improvement member ideas in a Lean-style
action single page document

Facilitating A team leader or CAMTL Ability to advocate for

improvements another relevant ideas and present them
implementation authority convincingly, relating to
the organization’s
objectives and success
factors
Excellent knowledge of
standards and policies
that might constrain
potential improvements
Knowledge of the
established value stream
that may be impacted by
the initiative?

Measuring and Team leader Project CMA Statistical methods and

evaluating manager measurement
improvement results Compliance officer techniques
Security officer
 Internal auditors

Embedding the Embedding the Embedding the Embedding the continual

continual continual continual improvement practice
improvement improvement improvement into the organization
practice into the practice into the practice into the
organization organization organization

Integration into Senior Manager LCM Excellent knowledge of

organizational Team leaders the service provider's
Organizational
culture organizational culture
change consultants Ability to lead by example
Strong command of OCM
techniques and planning
Strong strategic thinking

Identification of Senior managers MC Excellent knowledge of

relevant and valuable the service provider's
principles organizational culture
Ability to lead by example
Strong command of OCM
techniques and planning
Strong strategic thinking

Knowledge sharing Senior managers CA Excellent knowledge of

and capability uplift Team leaders the service provider's
organizational culture
Ability to lead by example
Strong command of OCM
techniques and planning
Strong strategic thinking

4.2 Organizational structures and teams

4.2.1 A continual improvement team
It is unlikely that a service provider will maintain any teams specifically dedicated to the
continual improvement practice. Teams are responsible for improving themselves, how they
interact with other internal teams, and how they interact with external suppliers, partners, and
customers.

However, a service provider may introduce an individual role of continual improvement

coordinator or CIR administrator. When implementing a continual improvement framework,
the service provider might give this role to a person skilled in coaching. Depending on the size
of the organization and the strategies for embedding continual improvement activities, this
could be a full-time position. As the proficiencies of teams throughout the organization
increase, the service provider might eliminate the role or make it part-time.

4.2.2 Structuring teams for continual improvement

Several attributes or aspects of a team facilitate and enhance its capabilities for improvement,
including diversity and a safe-to-fail environment.

4.2.2.1 Diversity
Studies on the impact of diversity on team performance are inconclusive. Some studies show
marked differences between socially homogenous teams and socially and culturally diverse
teams. Other studies fail to reproduce these results. Some studies demonstrate benefits when
experts are in teams with less experienced staff. However, it can be difficult argue for staffing a
team with less experienced people. There is a lack of information about the impact of changes
to diversity on a single team.

Immediate economic benefit is only one aspect that should influencing team staffing. Other
factors include the:

organization’s ethical responsibilities to its society

professional development of employees

team’s long-term stability and durability

value of avoiding groupthink and similar organizational biases.

Thinking in terms of categories and types of people might obstruct the building of a cohesive
and well-performing team. There is no formula for selecting the ‘right’ staff. Rather, the team
manager should focus on techniques that foster trust and respect and recognize unique
individual contributions.

4.2.2.2 Safe-to-fail environment

Incremental, iterative improvement techniques rely on the team’s willingness to experiment.
They allow improvements to fail frequently and on a small scale, thereby limiting the probability
of large-scale failure, reducing the potential impacts of failure, and increasing the ease with
which teams can recover from failure.

Team should recognize failures as opportunities to learn: blame culture must be avoided. It is
better to learn from small failures and improve overall capabilities than to never learn those
lessons. It is better to achieve the benefits of successful experiments than to have never
attempted those experiments in the first place.
Consequently, teams need no-blame environments in which it is safe to fail. These
environments promote what is generally described as ‘psychological safety’, and they rely on
respect and trust between team members and managers.

5. Information and technology

5.1 Information exchange

5.1.1 Information objects and inputs/outputs
Suggestions for improvement are often vague and unmeasurable. For example, a manager
might say that a service must be delivered more quickly. Such a statement is neither motivating
nor actionable. It is helpful to structure improvement proposals in such a way that stakeholders:

understand what should be solved

understand the potential value of the improvement

know the general scope of the work to be done

recognize other stakeholders

are aware of key constraints

can measure whether the improvement was successful.

5.1.2 Continual improvement register

The CIR is a complete list of improvement records used to track and manage continual
improvement. In Agile methodologies, the CIR is called the product backlog.

The CIR may be an integrated part of the service management system, or it could be a
standalone database of improvement records.

5.1.3 Improvement record

The level of detail contained in each improvement record depends on the level of requirement
specification it captures.

An example of data fields for an improvement record, and in effect, the structure of a CIR is
shown in Table 3.4.

Table 3.4 Example data fields for an improvement record

Field Description

Improvement A unique identifier valid across the entire service provider organization
identifier

Improvement name A short, descriptive title for the improvement

Improvement This could be any stakeholder, including external customers or

requester or source suppliers

Configuration item The service, product, or practice to be improved

affected

Improvement owner The person responsible and accountable for implementing the
improvement plan. Responsibility for an improvement initiative should
not be shared across teams.

Urgency An indication of the timeframe on which the effects of the

improvement will begin to be realized. Simple high/medium/low
values can be used to indicate urgency.

Status Terms which identify where in the improvement process an initiative

is.

Cost An indicative value that helps to prioritize backlog items and compare
initiatives.
Although cost is unknown when the initiative is registered and
estimated thereafter, it should incorporate direct and indirect
investment, time, and resources.
Simple high/medium/low values can be used to indicate cost.

Value or benefits This defines the final output of the initiative from both the service
statement provider’s and service consumer’s perspectives.

Improvement plan A high-level description of the approach to addressing the problem.

Organizations that adopt Agile ways of working sometimes include a
‘definition of done’ or acceptance criteria for the initiative.
 The plan can include designation of teams and practices that will be
involved in its implementation.

5.2 Automation and tooling

Despite huge progression in artificial intelligence, continual improvement is essentially a
human, manual practice. There is little in the continual improvement practice today that can be
automated, but there are many tools that can support the various phases of continual
improvement. These are summarized in Table 5.1.

Table 5.1 Automation solutions for continual improvement

activities

Process activity Means of Key functionality Impact on the

automation effectiveness of
the practice

Identifying and CIR Self-logging initiatives to Medium

logging the
improvements CIR

Assessing, prioritizing, Measurement and Provide baseline to Medium

and approving reporting tools establish the current state
improvements Statistical analysis
tools

Planning Electronic Kanban Visibility of the status of all High

improvements and tasks
facilitating Prevents unnecessary
improvement interruption or re-
implementation negotiation of agreed
delivery dates

Automated Potential for automation,

testing especially for phased High
deployments; automated
testing tools; automated
development and
deployment pipelines
 Measuring and Measurement and Provide baseline to Medium
evaluating reporting tools establish the current state
improvement results Statistical analysis
tools

6. Partners and suppliers

Very few services are delivered using only an organization’s own resources. Most, if not all,
depend on other services, often provided by third parties outside the organization (see section
2.4 of ITIL® Foundation: ITIL 4 Edition for a model of a service relationship). Relationships and
dependencies introduced by supporting services are described in the ITIL practices for service
design, architecture management, and supplier management.

Partners and suppliers must be included in continual improvement initiatives. Partners should
be encouraged to submit suggestions to the CIR. In the same way, service consumer
organizations should be able to suggest improvements to service providers. Open
communication and willingness to learn help to build relationships that facilitate value co-
creation.

In an Agile context, customers and suppliers need to collaborate in order to achieve the best
possible outcomes. Organizations aim for fast, effective continual improvement. They usually try
to agree close cooperation with their partners and suppliers, removing formal bureaucratic
barriers in communication, collaboration, and decision-making (for more information, see the
supplier management practice guide).

6.1 Continual improvement in the supply chain

All improvement statements contain a description of a problem to be solved. However, some
problems do not have an obvious solution.

For example, if a supplier delivers low quality goods or services, the customer has several
choices:

accept the goods or services and work with them at that level of quality

change suppliers

build steps into the service provider’s value streams to detect and correct or remove the
defects

collaborate with the supplier to improve the quality of the goods or services that are
delivered and how the consumer uses them.
Accepting poor quality good or services abandons the principles of continual improvement.
Changing suppliers might result in higher quality, but this is not always an option. Many factors,
such as physical location, price, or availability of goods and services, can limit the choice of
suppliers. Adding steps to existing value streams to handle quality issues might result in higher
value services, but at the cost of lower agility, longer lead times and higher costs.

Suppliers and consumers might collaborate to make supply chain improvements by:

identifying consumer requirements that are unnecessary and can be removed

adjusting the specifications of products

separating the service provider’s value streams and re-assigning certain activities to
suppliers (or consumers)

adjusting delivery cadences and batch sizes.

6.2 Roles of partners and suppliers in continual

improvement
In addition to identifying and implementing improvement initiatives, suppliers and partners
may provide specialist services that support the continual improvement practice. Table 6.1 gives
examples of these services.

Table 6.1 Roles of suppliers and partners in continual

improvement

ITIL continual improvement Service

model step

1. Where are we now Independently assessing the current state

2. Where do we want to be Analysing potential for improvement and advising about

best practice

3. How do we get there Coaching and planning services

4. Take action Contracting for specialized skills

 5. Did we get there Independently assessing the new state

6. Keeping the momentum Engaging in regular discussions and planning of

going improvements for both parties

7. Important reminder

Most of the content of the practice guides should be taken as a suggestion of areas that an
organization might consider when establishing and nurturing their own practices. The practice
guides are catalogues of things that organizations might think about, not a list of answers.
When using the content of the ITIL practice guides, organizations should always follow the ITIL
guiding principles:

focus on value

start where you are

progress iteratively with feedback

collaborate and promote visibility

think and work holistically

keep it simple and practical

optimize and automate.

More information on the guiding principles and their application can be found in section 4.3 of
the ITIL Foundation®: ITIL 4 Edition.

8. Acknowledgements

AXELOS Ltd is grateful to everyone who has contributed to the development of this guidance.
These practice guides incorporate an unprecedented level of enthusiasm and feedback from
across the ITIL community. In particular, AXELOS would like to thank the following people.

8.1 Authors
Roman Jouravlev, Laura Little, Kirstie Magowan, Konstantin Naryzhny,.
8.2 Reviewers
Xavier Idrovo, Vernon Lloyd.

References
1. Rother, Mike. (2017). The Toyota Kata Practice Guide: Developing Scientific
Thinking Skills for Superior Results. US. McGraw Hill.

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop

3. (N+C)/(O+C) – see the measurement and reporting practice guide for

explanation and examples.

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