What happens when IT service management focuses too much on frameworks and not enough on outcomes?

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In Part 2 of this special episode of Humanising IT: We Need to Talk About IT, Katrina Macdermid, Mark Basham and Wesley Eugene continue their conversation with David Ratcliffe, President of Pink Elephant and one of the most influential figures in the history of IT service management.

The discussion explores the gap between theory and reality in ITSM, why maturity assessments often fail to drive meaningful change, and how experience management is becoming an increasingly important focus for modern IT organisations.

David shares his perspective on leadership, service management frameworks, enterprise service management, and why organisations should focus less on framework adoption and more on solving real business problems.

In this episode:

•  Maturity assessments vs capability assessments 
•  Why ITSM improvement efforts often stall 
•  The growing importance of user experience in IT 
•  How IT service management evolved beyond infrastructure management 
•  Why service level agreements rarely tell the full story 
•  Enterprise Service Management: opportunity or distraction? 
•  Integrated ITSM and bridging the gap between theory and execution 
•  Why leadership still matters more than frameworks or technology 

This episode is essential viewing for CIOs, IT leaders, ITSM professionals, consultants, service desk leaders and transformation teams looking to improve outcomes rather than simply improve scores.

If you're interested in IT service management, IT leadership, user experience, service experience, enterprise service management, ITIL, AI and digital transformation, this conversation offers valuable insight from one of the industry's most experienced voices.

Visit HIT Global: https://www.hitglobal.services/
Subscribe for more conversations on Humanising IT, service experience and modern IT leadership.

This episode focuses on maturity assessments, experience management, enterprise service management, integrated ITSM, and the leadership principles needed to make ITSM work in practice. 

IT service management, ITSM, David Ratcliffe, Pink Elephant, Humanising IT, Katrina Macdermid, HIT Global, IT leadership, user experience in IT, service experience, enterprise service management, ITIL, integrated ITSM, digital transformation, maturity assessments, capability assessments, service management, CIO leadership, ITSM podcast, future of ITSM 

What can the “Godfather of IT Service Management” teach us about where ITSM is going next?

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In this episode of Humanising IT: We Need to Talk About IT, Katrina Macdermid, Mark Basham and Wesley Eugene are joined by David Ratcliffe, President of Pink Elephant, widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of IT service management.

This is Part 1 of a wider conversation exploring how ITSM has evolved from theory to practice, and what today’s IT leaders are still getting wrong.

David shares his perspective on the early days of ITSM, the role Pink Elephant played in shaping the industry, and why the gap between frameworks and real-world execution still exists today.

In this episode:

• The origins of modern IT service management
• How ITSM evolved from theory into practical application
• Why frameworks alone don’t run organisations
• The role of people, process and technology in real IT environments
• Why training, investment and capability building still matter
• How AI and modern tooling are changing the landscape

This episode is especially relevant for CEOs, CIOs, IT leaders, ITSM professionals, consultants and transformation leaders looking to better understand both the history and future of IT service management.

If you want to move beyond theory and understand what actually works in practice, this is a conversation worth watching.

Watch Part 2 for a deeper dive into AI, training, and the future of IT service management… Coming Soon!

Visit HIT Global: https://www.hitglobal.services/

Subscribe for more conversations on Humanising IT, service experience and modern IT leadership.

Why does IT service management still get experience so wrong, and what needs to change?

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In this episode of Humanising IT: We Need to Talk About IT, Katrina Macdermid and Wesley Eugene unpack one of the biggest challenges facing modern IT teams: the growing confusion around experience in IT service management.

Drawing on themes from Katrina’s new book, Humanising IT: The Experience Distortion of IT Service Management, this conversation explores why ITSM frameworks, human-centred design, and user experience are often misunderstood and what IT leaders need to do differently.

From silent sufferers and workaround experts to AI, archetypes, and service design, this episode gets into the practical realities of building better IT experiences without falling into the trap of vague buzzwords or overpromising transformation.

If you're a CIO, IT leader, service desk manager, ITSM professional, IT consultant or transformation lead, this episode will help you think more clearly about how experience should actually be approached in modern IT operations.

In this episode:

• Why “experience” has become distorted in IT service management
• The difference between ITSM frameworks and human-centred design
• What archetypes and personas can reveal about IT users
• Why many IT teams design services around process, not people
• How AI could improve IT experiences and where it still falls short
• Why IT needs practical skills, not just better intentions

This is a valuable episode for anyone interested in IT service management, ITIL, human-centred design, service experience, digital transformation, AI in IT, IT leadership and modern service operations.

Watch, listen and rethink how IT can become more human, more effective and more valuable to the people it serves. Transcript provided by the uploaded episode file

Visit HIT Global: https://www.hitglobal.services/

Subscribe for more episodes on Humanising IT, service experience and the future of IT leadership.