ITIL doesn’t speak to the role of the functional manager in IT service change management. And yet, prior to change management, functional managers usually set their team’s rules for changing production. Clearly defining the role of functional managers in change management will help you implement or improve your process. Learn how functional managers can help change management become more flexible to the needs of different IT teams without sacrificing quality--such as through defining managers’ authority and their on-going responsibilities, their role in change auditing and enforcement, and the decisions that managers can make within the change management process.

1. People managers in IT service
change management
JOHN BORWICK, MANAGER AND FOUNDER
HIGHER EDUCATION IT MANAGEMENT, LLC

2. John Borwick, PMP®, ITIL® Expert
 Wake Forest University,
2003-2012
 Director of Service Mgt
 PMO Director
 Manager and Founder,
HEIT Management
Career goal: Make people’s
lives easier by improving
how higher education IT is
managed.
johnb@heitmgt.com

3. Higher Education IT Management, LLC
 One-on-one coaching
 Custom engagements
 Blog
http://www.heitmanagement.com

4. Agenda
 Functional managers’ jobs
 Brief change management guidance review
 Functional manager buy-in for change management
 Functional managers within the change management
process
 Q&A

5. People Managers
(or “Functional Managers”)
CIO
Director, Appl
ication
Management
Manager,
Custom
Development
30 people
Manager, App
lication
Support
15 people

6. Processes span functions
Team A
Team B
Team C
Process: Change Management
Process: Incident Management
Process: …

7. Functional managers’ jobs

8. A Day in the Life of an (IT) Functional Manager
7:45 AM
8:07 AM
9:42 AM
10:17 AM
11:32 AM
1:30 PM
2:45 PM
3:28 PM
4:47 PM
5:35 PM
Text from a sick employee
Boss calls to ask why a server is down
Write status report
Call Bob to follow up on his status report
Surprise budget planning session
Performance planning meeting with Alice
Reply to emails about upgrading servers
Attend virtualization roll-out status update
Begin drafting IT audit response
Receive call from irate customer

9. Sample
Responsibilities, Accountabilities, Authorities
 RESPONSIBLE for setting expectations, motivating
 RESPONSIBLE for removing roadblocks, knowing






what the team is doing
ACCOUNTABLE for team performance, team
coverage
ACCOUNTABLE for a budget
AUTHORITY to spend money
AUTHORITY to hire and fire
AUTHORITY to approve vacation
AUTHORITY to define intra-team processes

10. Authority, responsibility, and accountability must
be balanced
Authority
Responsibility
Accountability

11. Functional managers are the default owner of
unassigned work
 Workplace safety
 IT service continuity
 Informal change approvals

12. Without a formal change management process,
functional managers “figure it out”
 “E-mail me before you change production”
 “Make sure you talk together before you upgrade
servers”

13. Brief change management
guidance review

14. Change management process activities
Create and record RFC
Review RFC
Assess and evaluate change
Authorize change build and test
Coordinate change build and test
Authorize change deployment
Coordinate change deployment
Review and close change record

15. Roles for Change Management
 Process owner
 Change manager
 Change initiator
 Change practitioner
 Change authority
 CAB member
 CAB chair

16. Processes span functions
Team A
Team B
Team C
Process: Change Management
Process: Incident Management
Process: …

17. Functional manager buy-in for
change management

18. Is change management a good or a bad thing?
(from a functional manager’s perspective)
Bad Thing?
Good Thing?
 Less control over the
 No longer accountable




change process
Extra meetings
Extra work
Keeps staff from doing
their jobs
Mismatched
accountabilities?
for all changes;
changes can be
escalated
 Better change visibility
 Fewer surprises
 Less work

19. Improve the perception of change management:
balance accountabilities
 Change authority responsible for approving changes
 change authority accountable for the changes
 Change manager responsible for prioritizing changes
 change manager accountable for prioritization
 Change management process owner responsible for
defining the process
 Change management process owner accountable
to functional managers for process efficiency

20. How to balance accountabilities
 RACI charts that include functional managers
 Functional manager performance review templates
 Change management scorecards
 Senior management included in change management

21. Improve the perception of change management:
clarify decision-making
 Who decides whether to be on the cutting edge of
software patches?
 Who authorizes overtime for changes performed
after hours?
 Who consults customers?

22. Improve the perception of change management:
find ways to reduce functional manager workload
 Reports on change records
 Replace existing meetings with CAB agenda items
 Identify the budget impact of changes
 Communicate changes so functional managers don’t
have to
 Prepare change management data for IT auditors

23. Meet with functional managers and follow up
with them
Meet
Act
Check
Follow up
Plan
Do

24. Functional managers within the
change management process

25. Process Compliance
Functional managers should be…
 RESPONSIBLE for team members learning about
the change management process
 ACCOUNTABLE for following the change
management process

26. Functional managers in the change process
Create and record RFC
Review RFC
Assess and evaluate change
Authorize change build and test
Coordinate change build and test
Authorize change deployment
Coordinate change deployment
Review and close change record

27. Functional managers in the change process
Create and record RFC
Review RFC
Assess and evaluate change
Authorize change build and test
Coordinate change build and test
Authorize change deployment
Coordinate change deployment
Review and close change record
1. Ensure staff are
creating RFCs.
2. Use change
management rather than
ad hoc processes.

28. Functional managers in the change process
Create and record RFC
Review RFC
Assess and evaluate change
Authorize change build and test
Coordinate change build and test
Authorize change deployment
Coordinate change deployment
Review and close change record
Participate in change
authorization

29. Change authorization
High-Risk Changes: IT
Governance
Medium-Risk Changes:
CAB
Low-Risk Changes:
Functional Managers

30. Functional managers in the change process
Create and record RFC
Review RFC
Assess and evaluate change
Authorize change build and test
Coordinate change build and test
Authorize change deployment
Coordinate change deployment
Review and close change record
Pull reports on team
work from change
management

31. Functional managers in the change process
Create and record RFC
Review RFC
Assess and evaluate change
Authorize change build and test
Coordinate change build and test
Authorize change deployment
Coordinate change deployment
Review and close change record
Ensure staff availability

32. Functional managers in the change process
Create and record RFC
Review RFC
Assess and evaluate change
Authorize change build and test
Coordinate change build and test
Authorize change deployment
Coordinate change deployment
Review and close change record
Ensure all production
work documented
accurately

33. Functional managers in the change process
Create and record RFC
Review RFC
Assess and evaluate change
Authorize change build and test
Coordinate change build and test
Authorize change deployment
Coordinate change deployment
Review and close change record
Learn from postimplementation reviews

34. Other considerations
 Who addresses unauthorized changes?
 How are functional managers involved in emergency
changes?
 Who decides to expedite changes?

35. Quick Review
 Functional managers’ jobs
 Change management guidance review
 Functional manager buy-in for change management
 Functional managers within the change management
process

36. John Borwick, Manager and Founder
Higher Education IT Management, LLC
http://www.heitmanagement.com