Standards: ITIL v3...any good?

So ITIL v3 is in the wild. Has been for a while now. Is it any better than ITIL v2? Does it say anything new? Is it actually usable?

I think ITIL v3 is like Windows Vista...everyone had grown to love and understand its predecessor when a new shiny version comes along that really doesn't deliver anything spectacularly new or useful and has no compelling reason to be used. There's nothing wrong with the old version.

So why does it exist? Well, first let's look at the driving forces behind ITIL v3; consultancy companies. Accenture and others seems to be a major player in this, having co-authored a lot of the content - just look at the first line of the first book of ITIL v3:

"How do you become not optional?", William D. Green, CEO, Accenture

Can anyone say "Shameless promotion"?

Who will most benefit from a new ITIL version; I might suggest that certain consultancy companies who provide ITIL training and advisory services might have a lot to gain from a new ITIL, just when everyone was getting to grips with v2 (and hence not really needing those consultancy services anymore). Conflicts of interests?

So, maybe a cynical answer to Mr. Green's question is:

"You reshape the established system to your own design so everyone has to come and pay you to explain how it works." Brilliant.

Here's an example of this:
In ITIL v2 we had Incident Management and we had Problem Management.
Now we have Incident Management, "Request Fulfilment" and Problem Management.
What is this new and strange process? Well it is management of "routine" incidents or Service Requests (examples given in ITIL are "...e.g. a request to change a password, a request to install an additional software application onto a particular workstation, a request to relocate some items of desktop equipment...") .

By the way, it then goes on to say a few paragraphs later
"Note, however, that there is a significant difference here – an incident is usually an unplanned event whereas a Service Request is usually something that can and should be planned!"
So how exactly do you plan for someone forgetting their password and requesting it be changed?!

Well, I thought these events were covered just fine in v2 by the service management and incident management processes; you just use appropriate categorisation of an Incident as a Service Request. But here they have split a hair and come up with a whole new chapter of waffle.

OK, there is some extra stuff there that is useful, even if "borrowed" from existing standards - Access Management is one useful addition (ISO17799 anyone?). But seriously, was there really a need for an whole number increment of ITIL - I don't think so. Adding to and popularising ITIL v2 would have been fine.

How many books are there for ITIL v2? Two I hear? What, just Service Delivery and Service Support? What about the Application Management, ICT Infrastructure Management and Planning to implement Service Management books? There are FIVE books that comprise ITIL v2 - who use those last 3?

So in summary, I think ITIL v3 exists because ITIL consultants wanted it rather than IT managers wanting it. Use ITIL v2 and don't worry about certification - you need ISO 20000 certification anyway, so use ITIL v2 to inform your choices on how to be ISO 20000 compliant.