Sky Jumper

The idea of proper skilling also goes for modern (Cloud-based) IT setups.  In theory, you change your traditional IT setup into a service organisation, where autonomous product teams use a self service catalogue to build modern applications at the speed of light.  In reality, it does not work like that. 

You will need swat teams to help the application or product teams, which we will refer to as. enablement teams from now on.  Just like trying out a ski jump without any help is a rather stupid idea, putting a self service catalogue in place without any assistance will not lead to great results. Let us find out what approach leads to better and more sustainable results.

The Service Catalogue

A service catalogue is a centralised and organised repository of information about available IT services, helping users understand what services are offered, which features they have , and how to request or utilise them.  In a Cloud based environment, this catalogue can go beyond a traditional repository.  Through automation services, you go next level: a self service catalogue.  From an efficiency and agility point of view, the absolute dream scenario.

The Governance

An absolute for any service catalogue scenario is smooth governance. As governance processes are crucial to ensure the catalogue is efficiently managed, maintained and aligned with the overall goals of the organisation.  However, the list of governance processes is rather long, which is an indication that this is exactly the challenge of a working services catalogue.  Some of the main processes include:

Service Definition

Each service needs to be properly described.  In a standardised way and in multiple versions for each audience.  Going from the high level business context to a very detailed technical decomposition.

Approval process, change management and lifecycle

Starting from a formal process for defining, reviewing and approving new services or changes to existing services. The picture of a Cloud environment often looks like a flower power freedom-for-all image. Of course this does not work in an enterprise scale environment. Still, autonomy and agility are two key benefits of Cloud computing. The paradox is that in order to get there, some of the supporting processes need to be very tightly governed. The approval and change management processes of a services catalogue is one of those domains. All of this links into lifecycle management, where the main objective is to assure that the catalogue items remain relevant, effective and aligned with the business objectives.

Service ownership and accountability

Each service needs to have a designated owner. That ownership has to be as specific as possible too, as you know: ownership comes with specific accountabilities. Those go beyond keeping the service up-to-date. If the owner of a component changes something, he or she must check the dependencies. And proactively inform his colleagues of the changes by actually involving them into the roadmap and planning of the changes.

Communication and training

In a self service world, it is critical to have a razor sharp strategy towards communication and training about new services, changes and updates. If this process fails, the catalogue adoption will be low.

The Enablement team

No matter how good the quality of the services catalogue, the services in the catalogue and the governance processes around it, this will not be enough to attain the objective of an agile and efficient operating model that generates maximal business value.  In the end, it is a people business.  This is often considered more complex due to the inherent intricacies associated with managing human dynamics, interactions, and expectations. Several factors contribute to the complexity of a people business: talent development and retention, communication challenges, adaptability, change management, …  to name a few. 

A service catalogue on top of a Cloud platform is like cryptocurrency prices.  It is in permanent motion.  The level of innovation of the Cloud platform in itself is so fast that constant adaptation is required.  Product or application teams are working hard to deliver business value. The whole idea of this type of setup is to bring the product creation closer to the business. Which inherently also means further away from the technology.  Even the best services catalogue will never bridge that gap.  This is where enablement teams come into the picture. 

The role of an enablement team is to enhance the efficiency and productivity of the product or application teams.  Amongst a long list of potential roles and responsibilities, these are some of the key ones:

• Project support 
• Training and development 
• Tooling and technology support 
• Promoting best practices 
• Foster collaboration and knowledge sharing 
• Performance monitoring

Overall, an enablement team acts as a catalyst for organisational growth and effectiveness by fostering collaboration, providing the right tools and training, and continuously improving processes within the dynamic IT environment.

In conclusion, the analogy of ski jumping, exemplified by the adventurous Eddie the Eagle, underscores the importance of guidance and support in achieving success.Similarly, in the realm of IT, transitioning to a service organisation with a self-service catalogue requires careful consideration and assistance.

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