mibisystems

The OODA Loop in ITIL

I've just seen Sample Paper 6 (ITIL v.3 Foundation Examination: Sample Paper 6, version 3.0 to be precise) and learned about a small controversy over Question 19: Which is the first activity of the Continual Service Improvement (CSI) model? Is it a fair question? Is the answer given the "right" one?

I believe it is. Here are the answer choices:

a. Assess the current business situation

b. Carry out a baseline assessment to understand the current situation

c. Agree on priorities for improvement

d. Create and verify a plan

Thinking ITIL, I would have guessed answer b. In ITIL, all the processes start with figuring out where you are, making a plan, then acting on it. (Plan-Do-Check-Act applies. So does the OODA Loop.) That immediately narrows it down to a & b--but b is the better answer because it's more inclusive of figuring out where you are. a refers to the business side; b is the situation generally and would include a.

So I think it's typically tricky but not ambiguous. The "approved" answer reference is to the CSI volume, p.15 which includes Figure 2.3, Continual Service Improvement model. I can see where someone might confuse answer a with "What is the vision?" but the goal is (unfortunately) almost never the reality of the current situation.

What's an OODA Loop? A lot like PDCA: Col Boyd's formulation of Observe-Orient-Decide-Act.

You can find the original postings, including mine, on the IT Skeptic website. It's a really cool site and I have it listed in my Links section.