ITIL: What's That?

Ever feel that those thick, heavy volumes on how to better manage information technology in your IT shop are just a bit dense and hard to comprehend, much less put into practice? Well, you’re not alone. According to a recent survey, reports Network World, while 51 percent of IT managers use the Information Technology Infrastructure Library â€" known as ITIL, a set of volumes that present best practices in delivering IT services to an organization â€" more IT managers (55 percent) use practices that they themselves developed.

IT consulting firm BT INS conducted the survey. The firm also reported that those who think ITIL is critical to delivering IT services to their organization declined sharply to 32 percent this year from 45 percent in 2004 and 43 percent in 2006.

What may explain that is at the bottom of the article: “Also fewer survey respondents said they feel that they understand ITIL at both a conceptual and detail level.”

If you don’t get it, you won’t do it.

ITIL’s seven volume set, which was condensed from 30 books a few years ago, is supposed to be condensed even further â€" to five volumes â€" and released sometime this year. Not sure if that will help.