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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Michael Jackson...Dead at 50

Michael Jackson died today, June 25th 2009.  He was 50 years old and is survived by his children, Prince Michael, Paris Michael, and Prince Michael II.

When remembering Michael Jackson I will never forget the year 1983.  I was a new Air Traffic Control trainee stationed at Beale Air Force Base.  I was 26, single, living in the dormitory and focused heavily on successfully completing my training (average time to upgrade from Apprentice to Journeyman controller was two years).

My life was spartan.  I had no TV, no cable, no real life.  Study and progress was everything.  Then about November of 83, watching the TV in the dorm room, I started seeing the previews of the premier of "Thriller" on MTV.  It looked good and so intrigued was I that I popped for a cable installation and a color TV...just so I could watch the fabled 13 minute video of Thriller when it was released on December 2nd 1983.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6JYawz-4cE

I was not disappointed that night and I've never been disappointed each and every time I've watched the same video since.  By the way...the album "Thriller" still holds the number one spot for sales at 65 million copies worldwide as of 2007 according to the Guinness Book of World Records (I expect that number to climb after today).

RIP Michael Jackson, dead at 50 June 25th 2009.  Many people will have many memories of you; for me it was that day in December 1983 when MTV released Thriller upon the world and for a short time I was not alone in a dormitory room, striving to become an Air Traffic Controller at Beale Air Force Base.

More to follow...

Braun Tacon

4:38 pm pdt 

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Why Problem Management?

Consider the following scenario.

 

You come home one day and discover that your bathroom faucet leaks.  Being thrifty and resourceful you go to the hardware store and buy a box of washers to fix your leaking faucet Incident.

 

You replace the washer and the leak stops.  Incident resolved.

 

1 month later you come home and discover the same faucet leaking.  You repeat the repair.  Maybe the Incident is resolved.

 

1 month later you come home and discover the same faucet leaking.  It is time to step back and assess. Perhaps you have a Problem here?

 

Calling up your logic skills you check the following:

 
  • Your faucet mechanics; they all check good
  • Your repair procedures; they all check good 

Since you are retracing your steps you go back to store to seek advice. A store representative tells you that they got a bad batch of washers which have been recalled.  The store gives you a new box of washers which you take home and use to repeat the repair.  You watch for leaks for 3 months.  No leaks.  At that point you decide that the Problem is fixed for good.  You throw away the old washers.

 

You could have kept replacing the washers, month by month, but instead you chose to look for the Root Cause to fix the Problem.  You made the right choice.

 
  • The goal of Incident Management is to fix Service disruptions when they happen.
  • Multiple Incidents of the same type almost always indicates a Problem. 
  • The goal of Problem Management is to Resolve Service disruptions once and for all.  Or to define and publish a Restoration or Workaround until a permanent Resolution can be found.
That is, in my opinion, the best case for, “…why Problem Management?” 


Definitions from the ITIL 3 Glossary:

 

Incident – (Service Operation) An unplanned interruption to an IT Service or a reduction in the Quality of an IT Service. Failure of a Configuration Item that has not yet impacted Service is also an Incident. For example Failure of one disk from a mirror set.

 

Restore – (Service Operation) Taking action to return an IT Service to the Users after Repair and Recovery from an Incident. This is the primary Objective of Incident Management.

 

Problem – (Service Operation) A cause of one or more Incidents. The cause is not usually known at the time a Problem Record is created, and the Problem Management Process is responsible for further investigation.

 

Resolution –(Service Operation) Action taken to repair the Root Cause of an Incident or Problem, or to implement a Workaround. In ISO/IEC 20000, Resolution Processes is the Process group that includes Incident and Problem Management.

 

Problem Management – (Service Operation) The Process responsible for managing the Lifecycle of all Problems. The primary Objectives of Problem Management are to prevent Incidents from happening, and to minimize the Impact of Incidents that cannot be prevented.

 

More to follow…

Braun Tacon
12:16 pm pdt 

Thursday, June 11, 2009

NASA Builds World's Largest Space Parachute for Martian Landing

More extraterrestrial news from those space cadets at Popular Mechanics

More to follow...

Braun Tacon

3:10 pm pdt 


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BraunsBlog...Random musings on specific topics.  The central themes will be ITIL V.3, Information Security, and other sundry ITSM topics.  That said, there are many more things in this world on which to opine, so don't be surprised if I do now and then.

About me...Braun Tacon, Portland Oregon.  Husband, father, aviator and former Air Traffic Controller with over 20 years experience in the Information Technology and IT Service Management field, the last thirteen years of which having been spent at a Fortune 500 in the Pacific Northwest. 

Professional background and certifications include Aviation Management, Education, Systems Management, Information Security and Process, Standards and Quality Management.  Always delivered with a strong focus on ITIL and similar Process Improvement Frameworks such as LEAN, SixSigma and TQM (Thank you Mr. Deming!).

Hobbies include reading, writing, and even the occasional Karaoke contest!

All opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone.

Contact me...

Questions?  Comments?  Suggestions?  You may contact me at btacon@BraunsBlog.com.

BraunsBlog - 99 and 44 one hundredth percent pure ITIL...66 one hundredth percent pure Braun

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