How to ensure AI improves Service Management and doesn’t simply automate it! A webinar by Katrina Macdermid
Are you watching?
"Can you turn your cameras on, please - after all we are talking about humanising IT." It was clear from the start that Katrina Macdermid's webinar was going to demand active engagement from her audience. Not just what sort of background knowledge we had, but our understanding of what we are trying to achieve. This wasn't just about the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI), but about who is responsible for what, and whether we tend to do it well. Take Customer Experience, for example. It has been prominent as a theme over the last few years in IT Service Management thinking, but are we actually responsible for it? The internal customer, experience yes, but not the external. And when we take on responsibility for the external without involving business people what sort of traps do we fall into? We can end up creating portals that don't work for the people who have to use them, and Katrina showed examples of what that can end up looking like. We think we've done a good job but do the people who have to use our portals? And do we ask them to find out?
The human perspective
Katrina's perspective takes the well-established field of Human Centred Design and asks how that applies to the specific world of IT Service Management. The basic challenge in the context of the subject of this session, had already been set up in the previous AI webinars - that AI amplifies what we feed it. So, if we don't optimize first, we are simply going to be doing more of the same. How can we avoid this? To consider this we need to step back and consider why we get into dysfunctional situations in our current IT world. If we can work that out, then we can give AI a chance of helping us.
ITSM and Design
We started at the beginning - a very good place to start, as it says in 'The Sound of Music'. It is there that we tend to go wrong, and from there our path is set. The context of IT Service Management is complex. We are juggling speed, stability, risk, compliance and cost in order to deliver effective services. When we are presented with a challenge the temptation is to jump in with a solution. This may be because we are under pressure to do so or it maybe we haven't got the right skills, resources, or contacts to work out what we should be doing. Design is something that we struggle to do well. For instance, we may well have the right technical skills, but do we have the right human skills? One analogy that Katrina used was whether we are a photographer being asked to do a painting - both produce a visual image, but the techniques and skills required are very different. And it's complex. And the pressures applied don't necessarily allow for doing it well. So, stepping back, what might good look like here?
Getting Started
Katrina picked up 3 themes from Human Centred Design and explored their relevance
· What is the Problem. People tend to identify goals rather than problems. For example, the problem might be unrealistic expectations rather than not being able to satisfy them. Rather than trying to solve your incidents more quickly, why are you getting them in the first place?
· What are our assumptions? We tend to assume things rather than research what is actually happening. When we analyse incidents, we might assume that people will raise a ticket. But have they just given up or found another approach? In looking at survey results, can we assume that they are accurate? When we produce knowledge articles, can we assume that people will feel empowered by them? When we automate something, can we assume that the effort involved will decrease?
· Who are the people involved. Do we consider the different personas of people who will use our services, and the differences in both their needs and how they will approach addressing them? This can consider moments that matter and ensure that the design that is done works towards enabling these.
What we design can end up being geared around what is easy for us to implement. So, we might choose to close a ticket after 3 user requests that have not been responded to. But what does that person want? How do they expect to be heard, and can we help them provide what we need in a way that works for them ? Does our process make them feel heard and respected?
Where's AI in all this ? And where are we?
Considering how AI can help us Katrina identified that there is a business AI opportunity around more strategic considerations, but that AI in IT Service Management is more invisible and operational. And it is not the future - it is here now. So now is the time when we need to embrace the considerations about identifying the problem and our assumptions and understanding our stakeholders to give us a fighting chance of using AI well in IT Service Management.
Talking of personas, as not all cameras came on in response to Katrina's exhortation at the start I did wonder if there is a meeting persona of people who don't like being on camera. Katrina did comment that people often come into IT for their technical skills rather than their people focus. We should recognise where we have strengths to capitalise on. But we should also recognise where we need to develop skills or draw on the capabilities and knowledge of others.
What now ?
If you want to learn more about Katrina's approach to Humanising IT then you can read her book on this subject. You could also join itSMF UK's Masterclass on 21st May where Katrina will be exploring Human-centred design for ITSM in more detail. As a member of the UK chapter who has both delivered and received masterclasses, I can recommend these as a really good way of engaging with a subject.
This blog is the third in a series. the other two being How we use AI in ITSM and Robots Can Cry - but Should They?