Who was Bloom and why should I care?

Benjamin Bloom (1913 – 1999) was an American educational psychologist who developed a taxonomy, or structure, through which educational objectives could be organized according to their cognitive complexity. The cognitive domain deals with a person's ability to process information and use it in a meaningful way. Bloom identified six levels within the cognitive domain, from the simple recall of facts, through increasingly more complex and abstract levels of thinking.

Simply put, Bloom’s Taxonomy helps teachers categorize learning objectives and, from there, assess learning achievements.

Why should you care? Many popular certification exams – such as the ITIL V3 exams – are based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Understanding the Bloom level at which you will be tested and using appropriate study techniques greatly increases your ability to

• Engage effectively in class
• Prepare properly for the exam
• Achieve success on the exam

It is also useful to understand your learning style, or approach to learning. Learning styles include:

• Visual – learn through seeing
• Auditory – learn through listening
• Kinesthetic – learn through moving, doing, touching

The ITIL V3 Foundation and Foundation Bridge exams (and most “foundation” or “essentials” exams) use Bloom levels 1 and 2

• Bloom 1 – knowledge – measures recall of terminology and specific facts
• Bloom 2 – comprehension – measures understanding of ideas and ability to translate or explain concepts

Effective learning and study techniques for learners taking Bloom levels 1 and 2 exams include:

• Take notes/rewrite notes (visual/kinesthetic) - highlight important points in color
• Reread course materials (visual/auditory/kinesthetic)
• Complete available study aids (visual/auditory/kinesthetic)
• Create and use Flash Cards (visual)
• Record notes, read notes aloud, discuss terms and concepts aloud (auditory)
• Create mnemonics to aid memorization (auditory)
• Partner Quizzing (verbal)
• Create simple mind maps and diagrams to tie terms and basic concepts to key topics (visual/kinesthetic)
• Read a composed document such as the Introductory Overview of ITIL V3 that provides a “big picture” perspective www.itsmacademy.com/files/itSMF_ITILV3_Intro_Overview.pdf

The ITIL V3 Lifecycle, Capability and Managers Bridge exams use Bloom levels 3 and 4

• Bloom 3 – application – measures ability to use information in new ways to solve problems, predict results, tell how, when, where and why
• Bloom 4 – analysis – measures ability to distinguish between different parts, understand how parts fit together, identify causes, recognize hidden meanings, draw conclusions

Effective learning and study techniques for learners taking Bloom levels 3 and 4 exams include:

• Actively participate in class discussions, debates and assignments
• Use the SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) reading and study technique
• Create complex mind maps to tie terms, concepts, and activities to key topics (Visual/Kinesthetic)
• Practice mapping ITIL concepts to real world situations/problems
• Create inductive diagrams - diagrams that illustrate inductive reasoning which involves moving from observations to a theory
• Create deductive diagrams - diagrams that illustrate deductive reasoning which involves starting with a theory and confirming (or not) that theory

Despite its popularity, cramming doesn’t work when preparing to take an exam. Your mind needs time to assimilate new information. The best ways to ensure success on any exam are to (1) pay attention and participate in class, (2) take notes, and (3) use a variety of study techniques. The most effective techniques are those that reflect the Bloom level(s) of the exam you are taking and your personal learning style.

Change Management People

“Those Change Management people make my life so difficult sometimes!”

I heard this from one of my students the other day. In this person’s organization they have made a common error. They have confused the process of Change Management with the Service Desk, Technical, Operations and Application Management functions. In other words the people who use the Change Management (and other processes) have become the same as the process itself. This is an often misconstrued and misinterpreted idea.

We must remember that ITIL makes a distinction between Functions (groups of people who use processes to complete similar types of work) and Processes (sets of activities used to complete various types of work). I like to remind my learners that Functions use Processes (or people do activities). Functions are not Processes and Processes are not Functions.

There may be groups of people or work teams who use a process as their main tool. As an example, the Release Implementation Team could use Release Management as their main set of activities. But, they may also use Change Management (and probably will) or Configuration Management or any other process to implement a Release.

This is also true of the Functions. The Service Desk does not only use Incident Management. They certainly will also use Request Fulfillment, Access Management, possibly Problem Management, Change Management and many others. The goal of the Service Desk is to use whatever processes and tools available to restore normal service operations as quickly as possible.

The people in the Functions wear many hats and fulfill many process roles. Generally they can only wear one hat at a time, but could have a number of hats in their wardrobe. They may do Incident Management activities for 30 minutes and then need to switch to Problem Management for an hour and then over to Availability Management for the afternoon. They are still the same person with the same title, but they have many roles and responsibilities.

When a person tries to do many roles simultaneously they often find it difficult to juggle. It generally works better that we each do one role at a time and we each follow one process at a time. When we complete a given set of process steps we go on to the next or another process. And then to the next.

Because we can wear many hats and use many processes as a set of tools or a “kit” to complete an action or produce an outcome or output it should not be thought of as only one group of people who do Change Management. The processes are spread across the functions. You might have a group of people dedicated to the support and care and feeding of the process as their full time responsibilities, but those who do the process can reside just about anywhere!

So next time you hear someone mention the “Change Management people” remember they are talking about the people who are currently using the Change Management process. They might be members of Application Management or the Service Desk, or they might be you!

Celebrating National Customer Service Week (Part 2)

It’s National Customer Service Week (NCSW). Held every year during the first week in October, NCSW provides an excellent opportunity to explore ways to better serve your customers. A great starting point is ensuring your policies, processes and procedures are customer friendly.

What does that mean? Be a customer for a moment. What are the things that drive you crazy? Here is my list of pet peeves, along with a few suggestions.

Limited options – Every process begins with a trigger. For IT organizations, a common trigger is a call to the Service Desk to report an incident or submit a service request. Times have changed. Increasingly customers want the ability to use other channels such as email, self-help via the internet, chat, and in many cases, all of the above. There are currently four generations in the work place, all who have very different expectations and desires in terms of how they obtain support. Are your processes keeping up with the times? Surveys, focus groups and needs assessments are all effective ways to ensure you understand your customers’ current requirements.

Inflexible policies – One of the fastest ways to frustrate me is to use the phrase “That’s not our policy.” Don’t get me wrong. I understand that companies can’t be all things to all people and so need policies. What I would like to hear are my options. How about this: “what I can do according to our policy is…” Such an approach requires that you design flexible policies and empower (that means train) your staff. If there’s no room for flexibility (e.g., there’s a security or financial concern), make that clear up front and never, ever bend.

Inconsistency – I admit it, I’m human. If someone says “I shouldn’t do this, but I will to help you out,” I rarely say no. Having said that, I get very frustrated when a week later someone else, handling the same situation, refuses to bend the rules. Again, if there’s no room for flexibility in a policy, make that clear to your customers up front, and enforce compliance on the part of the your staff. If it’s okay to "bend the rules," change the policy and allow your staff to offer options; or change your process and add in the alternative procedures.

Lack of accountability – Any variation of “it’s not my job,” “what do you want me to do about it,” or “there’s nothing I can do” drives me crazy. What it tells me is that the organization has failed to design clear accountability into its processes. There’s always something you can do, even if that something is directing the customer to someone else for help. Ensure your processes have clear escalation procedures, including what people should do when they don’t know what to do. Also, push decision making to the level closest to the customer whenever possible, and train your staff on how to make those decisions.

Lack of communication – Thankfully, most organizations now understand they can’t just say “we expect service to be restored as soon as possible,” or any other variation on the theme, “go away, we’re working on it.” Clear escalation procedures tied to priority are critical, along with procedures for both customer and management notification. Technologies such as the e-mail, the web, and – dare I say it – Twitter, lend themselves nicely to periodic updates made within pre-defined time frames. Even when the status hasn’t changed, active communication eases customer frustration.

So ask yourself this, are your processes customer friendly? Better still, ask your customers!