The Visible Ops Handbook
The Visible Ops Handbook: Implementing ITIL in 4 Practical and Auditable Steps (2005) is the first book by IT innovator, author, and founder of Tripwire, Gene Kim. The book was co-authored by Kevin Behr and George Spafford and published by IT Revolution Press in January 2013. The book addresses how to implement a process framework such as ITIL and where to start.
Description
The Visible Ops Handbook outlines how successful technology companies like Etsy, Netflix, Facebook, Amazon.com, Twitter and Google transformed their ITIL practices to implement effective change control.
The book presents four steps to reduce the amount of unplanned change, eliminate firefighting, increase system uptime, and decrease the amount of time it takes to repair a system. It also provides a method for documenting and routing system changes to ferret out potential problems with a change before the change is implemented in the organization’s systems. The Visible Ops Handbook is now considered an IT "cult classic" by the industry.
Four Phases of ITIL
The Visible Ops Handbook is the result of more than three years of study high-performing IT operations. The handbook outlines how to replicate these high-performing organizations in four phases. They are:
- Stabilize Patient, Modify First Response
- Catch and Release, Find Fragile Artifacts
- Establish Repeatable Build Library
- Enable Continuous Improvement