Stuart Rance writes many blogs and white papers that are published on a variety of sites, you can find a regularly updated list of all of these in Stuart Rance blogs

Blogs that appear below are published on the Optimal Service Management web site.

All blogs published on this site are licenced under CC BY-SA 4.0 

Phone calls

9

July

Do you know who you're talking to

It’s easy to assume you know who you’re talking to, but it’s just as easy to make a mistake. Every time you answer the phone, or phone someone else, make sure you really do know who you’re talking to.

Stephen Stills on stage playing a guitar

25

April

Start where you are: Love the one you’re with

Shiny new tools and processes aren't the only way to make improvements. And they won't be be of much use unless you've thought long and hard about what it is you are actually trying to achieve.

2017 03 16 What configuration data do you need IMAGE

11

February

3 ways to approach configuration management

There are three very different approaches you can take to configuration management.  Each of them has benefits and disadvantages, and you need to blend aspects of all three to get the best value in your context.

2018 09 27 IT security and the service desk PREVENT

27

September

Information security and the service desk

I will be delivering a webinar on information security and the service desk on Wednesday 10th October. Here's a preview to whet your appetite...

2018 08 08 How to manage major incidents and security breaches IMAGE

8

August

How to manage major incidents and security breaches

Major incidents and security breaches are different. Learning from experience can turn out to be hugely expensive, or even result in the organization concerned going out of business. So how can you make sure that you handle these incidents correctly first time?

2018 06 08 Which ITSM framework is right for your business IMAGE

11

June

Which framework is right for your business?

At the Service Desk and IT support show, there was a panel discussion titled "Which framework is right for your business". I was pleasantly surprised by the sensible conclusions reached...

2018 05 14 Putting the Ops in DevOps IMAGE

15

May

Putting the Ops in DevOps

I often hear people who work in IT operations complain that DevOps is just about development. If we want DevOps to work for everyone then we shouldn’t wait to be invited to join in and complain when we aren’t. We should actively adopt ideas from DevOps into how we run IT operations and seek out our development colleagues to foster collaboration.

SDI metrics and measurement

19

March

How well does your service desk communicate?

I delivered a presentation on Metrics and measurement at the Service Desk Institute conference in the UK. To my surprise, the most lively discussion topics were more about how well the service desk communicates with end users, than about metrics.

2018 01 02 Incident Management Isnt Just For IT Image

15

January

Incident Management Isn’t Just For IT

If you define an incident as "... interruption to an IT service..." then you're not really focussing on customers. One of my clients has a much more business-focussed definition, and this drives completely different behaviours...

2017 11 16 You Need a Vision IMAGE 1

20

November

You Need a Vision

Many IT organizations think that defining a vision is too abstract, they don’t see the point, and they just want to get on with it. So they jump straight into the important work. The results are as predictable as they are sad. IT staff work very hard, but fail to arrive anywhere helpful, with results that are not nearly as good as they could have been.

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Recent Posts

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    How to create simple definitions of risk appetite levels, and then assign these to each of your organization’s projects, services, business units or any other clearly identifiable part of your work.

  • 2021 11 25 Mentoring inage
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  • 2019 09 11 A great customer journey has to be planned from end to end
    A great customer journey has to be planned from end-to-end

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