ITIL 4 Guiding Principles

Focus on value

Everything that the organization does needs to map, directly or indirectly, to value for the stakeholders.

The focus on value principle encompasses many perspectives, including the experience of customers and users.

Start where you are

Do not start from scratch and build something new without considering what is already available to be leveraged. There is likely to be a great deal in the current services, processes, programs, projects and people that can be used to create the desired outcome.

The current state should be investigated and observed directly to make sure it is fully understood.

Progress iteratively with feedback

Do not attempt to do everything at once. Even huge initiatives must be accomplished iteratively. By organizing work into smaller, manageable sections that can be executed and completed in a timely manner, it is easier to maintain a sharper focus on each effort.

Using feedback before, throughout and after each iteration will ensure that actions are focused and appropriate, even if circumstances should change

Collaborate and promote visibility

Working together across boundaries produces results that have greater buy-in, more relevance to objectives and better likelihood of long-term success.

Achieving objectives requires information, understanding and trust. Work and consequences should be made visible, hidden agendas should be avoided and information should be shared to the greatest degree possible.

Think and work holistically

No service, or element used to provide a service, stands alone. The outcomes achieved by the service provider and service consumer will suffer unless the organization works on the service as a whole, not just on its parts.

Results are delivered to internal and external customers through the effective and efficient management and dynamic integration of information, technology, organization, people, practices, partners and agreements, which should all be coordinated to provide a defined value.

Keep it simple and practical

If a process, service, action or metric provides no value, or produces no useful outcome, eliminate it. In a process or procedure, use the minimum number of steps necessary to accomplish the objective(s). Always use outcome-based thinking to produce practical solutions that deliver results.

Optimize and automate

Resources of all types, particularly human resources (HR), should be used to their best effect. Eliminate anything that is truly wasteful and use technology to achieve whatever it is capable of. Human intervention should only happen where it really contributes value.