The ITIL 2011 Edition has arrived and for me it seems like a long time in coming (maybe that's because I was aware of the process). This week I have been asked by multiple folks for my opinions on the edition so I thought that I would share a few:

• Service Strategy is much better! There are actually some documented processes to support the intent documented in Version 3 and even the addition of what looks like some new ones as well. That said, the changes to Service Strategy will require rewriting of the relevant areas of the exams, so I expect that trainers will not be happy.
• Financial Management looks much better and is more practical, written to move the practitioner to understanding value from the service being delivered.
• The changes to Service Operations and Service Transition appear minimal. Now pre-cloud I would have totally agreed with this, however, with mandate for rapid change and the emergence of DevOps I believe that more will be required here. In summary, my quick scan found little guidance on Cloud Computing, clearly one of the industry hot topics. I have heard a rumor that some additional guidance is on the way here.

In my opinion the 2011 Edition certainly is an improvement on Version 3 and hits most of the issues in the change log that you the practitioner identified. That said I have to agree with the majority of the points made by my friend at Forrester, Stephen Mann, in his recent blog "What next for ITIL?". In the blog Stephen mentions that we need to start containing the ITIL bloat and change the focus from IT to business with a focus on business value. It's a concept I totally agree with but I have to ask the question: With the inability to turn updates around quickly will it all be too late? Don't get me wrong, ITIL has an enormous base but IT is transitioning and the IT department of tomorrow will not look like it does today, I refer to my blog post "Is your IT Business going out of business".

As I mentioned, the 2011 Edition, especially the Service Strategy volume, is worth investing at least some time to read and digest. After you read the guidance and apply it to your situation, let me know what you think.

Oh and by the way I predict this is not the end... maybe an ITIL 2012?