The Value of the Cynefin Framework to ITSM

Rejigging is the new buzz-word in the commercial world. Especially, businesses that are into the IT service management realm use this technique for having a rightly mixed ITSM system in their companies so as to serve their customers in a better manner. If you own a company that operates in this field, you will also rejig various concepts and ITSM tools for rendering high quality IT services to your clients. One of the frameworks you may be using for rejigging your ITSM system is the Cynefin framework.

Unfortunately, the adoption of this framework is not in the right proportion to the initial popularity it enjoyed. But the fact that the Cynefin framework has its own value cannot be denied by anyone including experts. You should therefore recollect its value and educate your peer-entrepreneurs who are also in the IT service management field so they will also use it along with the other ITSM tools they have put in place. Let us now look at the value of this framework.

How can Cynefin framework help your efforts of using your ITSM software and rendering great IT services to your customers?

IT services can turn out to be complex because a number of factors including the ever-changing nature of customers' expectations, new innovations, technological developments, and of course, competitors' behaviors influence them. In this context, the Cynefin framework can provide immense support so you can handle the complex nature of the IT services you are trying to offer to your customers. The main technique that Cynefiin framework uses for simplifying complex IT services comes in the form of three steps. The three steps that are used in this framework are to probe, to sense, and to respond.

1. To probe, you have to make a small change, and more particularly, a standard change for testing purposes.

2. To sense, you have to study the pattern that emerges due to the change you have effected.

3. To respond means finding out the ways that will help you encourage the patterns you wish to have. The ways should help you keep at bay those patterns you hate to have. 

In other words, the cynefin framework helps you test if a change will work or not.

Why is testing important?

During the course of conducting your IT service management business, you may creatively think of several ideas. Sometimes, the sheer number of ideas that emerge out of your skull may itself bewilder you. You may not be able to make the right choice. You may not also know which idea will work and which will not. It is in this context you are advised to test the ideas by effecting a small change. Remember that if you make a big change and if it does not work, you may be increasing the chances of the change negatively impacting your ITSM system. This may seriously affect how you offer your IT services to your customers. Being an entrepreneur who aspires to succeed in the IT service management realm, you cannot afford to take such big risks. That is the reason you are advised to test your ideas by making small changes, the effects of which you will be able to bear.

There is another reason as well.

You have another reason to use the Cynefin framework along with your ITSM system for testing your ideas by making very small changes. Remember that as an entrepreneur, regardless of the size of your company, and irrespective of your financial status, you cannot afford to squander your finances. If you affect a big change, if it does not work out, and if it results in huge losses, you will regret the decision you have made. It is with the intention of avoiding such situations you are advised to effect very small changes for testing your ideas.

If you think that testing all the ideas may not be possible,....

You may think that testing all the ideas may not be possible. This concern is completely justifiable. You cannot put all your money, energy, and time into testing all your ideas. The only way to surmount this problem is to put yourself into the shoes of customers and view things in their perspective. Of course, you must be honest and sincere while carrying out this exercise. If your assessment reveals that customers may not like the changes you want to effect, you should not hesitate to dispense with them.

On the other hand, if you feel that customers will welcome the changes with open arms, you can go ahead and introduce the changes or ideas to your ITSM software so you can offer the IT services of the highest quality to them. But whether your exercise of putting yourself in the shoes of your customers and viewing things in their perspective will get you the right findings or not, the fact remains that the steps involved in the Cynefin framework will certainly help you know the impact of the small changes you effect.

In a nutshell, if you use Cynefin framework along with your ITSM tools, it will be possible to test your ideas so your task of choosing and implementing the right ones for rendering high quality IT services to your customers becomes easier. You will ultimately achieve your business goals more quickly.