The most neglected role in IT Service Management?

Pop Quiz:

• Who do most people in your organization go to first when there is a notable Problem?
• Who provides your final IT sign-off on a significant Change?
• Who defines the available Service levels?

Hopefully, your answer to all 3 questions was the same - the appropriate Service Owner. Sadly, in many organizations this is not the case. The ITSM organization is really a process organization. Even if the process owners try to focus on process improvement, they get sucked into being the default service owners for every IT Service. In trying to pull double duty, they often make little progress on either front. 

A friend of mine recently reminded me that Senge's Fifth Discipline calls out focusing on "highest leverage" points. One of those points for IT Service Management is clear accountability and authority for IT Services. A motivated Service Owner can often overcome poorly defined or nonexistent processes. 

If you're early in your ITSM journey, it's easy to get focused on all the processes described in ITIL. Don't fall into the trap of doing IT Process Management - it's called SERVICE Management for a reason!