Unlike manual labor such as a building a bridge, what an IT delivery will look like is not necessarily known and mastered at the beginning of the process. The design is therefore subject to change along the way. 

Agile methods have improved IT deliveries by applying empirical rather than theoretical methods; that is, to consider that knowledge is acquired as projects progress and that decision-making is based on known and observed facts. 

COVID-19 has slowed down organizations’ IT transformation. Many of them experienced this period as an obligation to take the digital turn to modernize and automate their infrastructures as well as their technological exploitation and application development processes. 

In this “VUCA” context (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous), ITIL4® sets out 7 key principles in order to implement solutions that deliver value for its stakeholders. 

Below, you will find the 7 principles, along with my personal thoughts on each one. 

1. Prioritize value

Achieving value should be an integral part of everything an organization does. Is the work worth the results? Do the results, risks and costs make sense? Sometimes the answers are revealing of the consideration of this principle. 

2. Start where you are

Everything we do is improvement, which means changing. 

However, it is rarely advantageous to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch when undertaking an improvement. Capitalizing on what you have and what works well is a guarantee of success. 

3. Iterate with feedback

At the beginning of the process, the vision of the target to be reached is not necessarily clear, we advance in small steps, and we adjust along the way. This is the most demonstrative principle of the paradigm shift between the type of delivery; either in small or big steps.