Why 'Yet another Service Management Model'?

Published: July 25, 2014

YaSM is a streamlined service management framework based on the principles of the popular frameworks and standards for ITSM and enterprise service management.

YaSM is a new, streamlined service management framework with lots of fresh ideas. This post marks the launch of YaSM.

We are very excited about reaching this big milestone: Getting there meant several years of hard work!

What exactly is YaSM service management?

YaSM provides guidance ("best practices") for service providers, i.e. for organizations offering services to their customers.

As you may know, there are a number of existing best practice frameworks in this area (ITIL® is a prominent example), but we learned from our customers that many find these frameworks too complex and would welcome something simpler that is more readily understood. There seems to be frustration with the guidance currently on offer; smaller organizations, in particular, often regard frameworks like ITIL as "too big and too complicated".

And that's how the idea for creating YaSM was born.

We started by assessing the most popular frameworks and standards (such as ITIL and ISO 20000), and at first we thought of creating a lighter version of the existing guidance. But it quickly became clear that this was not an option: As soon as you go into the details of, say, the official ITIL publications, you'll find that nothing is actually wrong; many recommendations may not be applicable to all organizations, but may be useful for specific service providers in particular situations. So it is almost impossible to decide what should be left away.

This seems to be the problem with the current guidance on offer: It is very extensive, so it's easy to get lost in the details.

A framework built upon time-tested key principles

In the end we decided that going back to first principles was the only way forward. ITIL and similar frameworks are built upon time-tested key principles; we collected these principles and then made a fresh start to create a framework with a clear and streamlined structure that is easily understood.

Inevitably, this means that users of YaSM will have to get familiar with our new concept. But this should not be a big hurdle, because YaSM is based on well-known principles and therefore it is not entirely new. Everyone versed in ITIL or ISO 20000 will find it easy to get started with YaSM. Indeed YaSM can be used in combination with existing frameworks if additional advice is needed.

If you would like to find out yourself, please check out the YaSM Service Management Wiki where you will find a complete introduction to the YaSM processes and principles.