One Area of growing investment is in IT Service Management Professional Certification. Ian has a long history of driving sound requirements in this space.

I'll admit there are times today I wish I stuck to my first choices for a job and become the town sheriff, soldier, train driver, astronaut or a policemen (the latter was actually a non starter since for many of us in South East London regarding avoiding the police as a skill and akin to an Olympic sport), instead of choosing those last two lessons on a Friday that led to me eventually becoming a 'computer consultant'.

Consultants, especially those involved in the computer field, are often stigmatized as generalists, meaning they are not recognized as having a specialty. With that, (to some degree) sometimes viewed as not 'professional' as others. I've countered this opinion in recent years by adding writing to my portfolio.

Recently, I noticed another subtle indication I may not be as 'professional' as I think I am, or that others might regard me as less professional than I wish. A number of statements from organizations that do not know me, what I have achieved, and that have a clear financial interest in influencing what I plan to do with the remainder of my career, are troubling me.

Some troubling truths

Firstly, some of the more recent announcements mean I am now faced with a 'professional' qualification scheme that is almost completely hierarchical and lacks any vocational (work experience) related criteria. This totem pole of professionalism is based upon a "test and test again" and insular philosophy, recognizing but one study source. Also concerning, is that a number of my prospective employers, who frankly do not understand, and may never understand the scheme, are beginning to assess my value to them based upon this single, commercially controlled criterion. Unless I 'master' this particular scheme I risk being disadvantaged, and by not gaining attain a particular level of qualification, regarded as 'not professional enough'.

Perhaps most worrying, I've realized I don't have any say or influence over the scope or content of the information, or the qualification scheme, and that any other materials or experiences I have collected in my 35 years, do little to help me progress through the qualification scheme to a 'professional enough' level. Worse still, if it changes, I may have to re?test - again.

Was Dad right?

Perhaps my father was right all those years ago, when in 1973, I told him I was applying for a computer operator position. I remember him saying something like, "get a real job, be part of a proper profession where your hands might get dirty". So it made me think (which for many of us is a very dangerous past time), and unsuprisingly led me to a number of compelling questions:

• What makes a professional?
• Who should define the criteria?
• Should it be hierarchical, vocational, holistic, or all the above?
• Should it include more than one source of reference information, and if so, how is the scope set, and controlled? "
• Should I as a professional have a say, a voice in what describes the profession and the criteria for being regarded as a 'professional'? "
• Did I do the right thing in my last two years at Grammar School dropping Russian Language and Religious Education in favor of Computer Science?

In typical consultant style, I decided to look around for a working solution I could propose back to my questions, starting with the source of my trouble, the collective announcements, statements and publicized objectives of the organizations involved. I amazed to find no emphasis on me as the individual professional, and my career needs?

Ask an expert - sorry a generalist

Everything I was able to find and review amounted to an industry level conversation. I was immediately reminded of the opinions reached by one of my favorite authors, who I was able to ask a few questions on a recent webinar, historian and general all round establishment boatrocker; James Burke of British TV and Connections fame.

He responded by referencing his book, 'The Axemaker's Gift', that as technology makes access to bodies of knowledge more widespread and accessible, comparisons are encouraged and new discoveries or "matter of facts" uncovered.

A struggle ensues over ownership, content, access and use. New institutions with exclusive membership are formed with the overriding concern that the knowledge be used to maintain social order and specialist status. Behind closed doors small groups of authorized specialists question and "purify" information using a method of categorizing knowledge into manageable parts - a technique known as "reductionism" to maintain the status quo and control over the dissemination of knowledge, or power.

Individuals who fail to show allegiance to these institutions and their bodies of knowledge are immediately characterized as 'generalists' and positioned as 'less professional'. He was referring to the 1500s, not me. Although I was rather struck by the analogy!

He also concluded that the whole system and the purpose the knowledge serves must be studied first, and as a vital foundation element to gain maximum value from a skill or knowledge domain. Holism, trumps reductionism, but in truth a combination leads to sustained success, and a hierarchical scheme that places the holistic view at the very pinnacle, is suspect, as though it is keeping the secret recipe to itself. Any alternative, or uncontrollable opinion frightens the be?jeebers out of those who need to maintain social order and status!

My RFP for the Profession

Motivated by Mr. Burke, and having come up short with answers from those who currently have their hands on my professional steering wheel, I turned to another consultant pony trick. I transformed each of my questions into a requirement. So here are my key 'RFP' requirements for establishing a service management 'profession', as encouragement of an open discussion on our profession, and whether we wish for, and deserve a voice in its destiny:

Recognition by definition (specific codification) of the service management profession as an occupation, vocation or career where specialized knowledge of all things service are applied, including academic training, allegiance to a common code of ethics, and attainment of a formal qualification;

• Respect and integration of the IT perspective with the IT agnostic (the existing service industry) view.
• A common dictionary of terms and language of use able to be consistently used across the profession. " The maintenance and continual evolution of a common body of knowledge.
• The mapping of the body of knowledge to a service system, operation of that system within a service provider organization, and how to continuously improve the management of quality and cost.
• The ability to leverage and include existing and new knowledge, quickly and continuously and able to grow organically, quickly, and to inter?operate with other related bodies of knowledge.
• The availability of learning programs and paths related to key roles within a service provider organization, that explain how the knowledge is used operationally, and aligned with any growth of the body of knowledge.
• A qualification scheme matched to key roles within a service organization and specialist information, that respects work experience, the fact that learning is continuous, and is subject to third?party scrutiny and international standards to ensure quality, fair, and unbiased operation.
• The establishment of governance by the profession over the body of knowledge and " qualification scheme that encourages and facilitates the "voice of the professional"
• The prevention of undue influence by any one party, individual, or organization

A program of events that promotes transparent and continuous review and improvement of elements Although not exhaustive, I am content that any organization that can speak to these or similarly principled requirements has my vote. All I have to do is find one and offer up my annual membership fee for it to happen, that's got to be worth it. Or perhaps there I go again with another habitual consulting solution - outsourcing the problem?

Conclusions

So for now, I have to conclude that although I am trying to act professionally, I am not a bonafide member of the service management profession, as that profession has yet to be formally defined by those that matter most (and are affected the greatest), the professional community it represents. As a generalist with specialty skills that fall outside of the definitions offered by the current body of knowledge, generally positioned as the 'de facto standard', I will have problems establishing my true value to an existing or prospective employer, and therefore lack a voice, a say in my own destiny. My father was right, unless of course something changes. Where is my copy of the Axemaker's gift….?

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Copyright© 2008- Ian M. Clayton (V.092)

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