Workshops and seminars

Two Hills offers onsite half-day or one-day seminars and workshops on a range of topics to stimulate learning and debate within your organisation, including:

The agile Manager

An introduction to the ideas in our book

Diggers simulation workshop

Our own creation to teach new ways of wrking and managing. Find out more here

Simulation workshops from GamingWorks

We offer simulation workshops from GamingWorks in the Netherlands, delivered locally via ALC Training.
Currently we offer:

  • The Phoenix Project
  • Mars Lander

An Introduction to DevOps

DevOps still has no formal definition, so an Introduction has to be a personal view. Rob is an accredited DevOps Foundation instructor, but this workshop will be briefer and take a different perspective than that certification. It presents the core concepts, and what they mean for system, people, practices, and technology, providing models for organising thought around DevOps. It looks at how to determine, deliver and measure value from DevOps-inspired improvements. More information on this course...

The Impact of DevOps on ITSM

DevOps challenges some of the basic assumptions of traditional ITSM, and has specific implications for each of the ITSM practices, especially Change Management but also all the others. We walk through the broader transformation of IT principles and behaviours, then we unpack the evolutionary changes to each of the ITSM practices.
DevOps is a journey, not an end-state, so the improvements we describe here are food for thought for ITSM anywhere.

Tipu Continual Service Improvement

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Design an agile continual improvement program for service management in your organisation (it might be IT services or it might be business services delivered to customers) based on Two Hills' own Tipu framework, a pragmatic framework. Prioritise your needs and develop a staged approach to addressing them in small incremental improvements.

Real Response: A Pattern For Responding

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Standard+Case is about applying a body of knowledge called Case Management to ITSM, while synthesizing it with your existing process approach. This is an exciting new concept from the IT Skeptic that will radically improve the way you handle responses to any sort of situation. S+C is applicable to Problem Management, Change Management, Event Management as well as Service Desk activities. S+C applies to anything that requires a human response; there's either a standard response or there isn't. This workshop will introduce the concepts of case management and of S+C as an approach to service response. You will leave with a grasp of these unfamiliar ideas (and a copy of Rob's book on the topic) which will put you on the path to a better way of dealing with ITSM situations.

Two Hills can also run an onsite workshop to looks at your existing environment and determine how roles, practices and tools can be extended to deal with unknown or unfamiliar cases.

Hono: Better supplier and customer engagement

When establishing the relationship between an external service provider (outsourcer) and customer, why do we document a whole operating model spanning both organisations? The whole point of outsourcing is that the supplier should be a black box, with inputs, outputs and performance requirements. What we need to define is the interface between the two entities, to ensure the operating models of each one mesh properly together: the Engagement Model.

This is more efficient: we don't redundantly document processes which already exist, and are documented elsewhere. It is more effective: we focus on the gaps, specifying the requirements for change in each organisation in order to connect their operating models.

Plug and Socket: the practical application of governance to IT

What do I need to have ready when the governors come knocking?
There is plenty of abstract information about Governance of IT (don't say "IT Governance" - Rob will explain why), but when you come to do it the lack of practical information is worrying. Lots of boxes on whiteboards, not a lot of beef in the burger. Rob has been exploring what is out there, to build a picture of useful guidance in the implementation of IT Governance.
When the governors (or their designates) come looking for you wanting to implement governance, what will they have with them? What will they want you to have ready? What do the plug and socket between the governors and IT actually look like in the real world? Rob will give a clear picture of what Governance of IT is, then describe what that really means in practice.

A Romp Through Service Management

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How to operate any enterprise, described from the point of view of the services it delivers. After all, delivery is what success is all about. This seminar describes the basic principles of service management (for IT or anywhere else), based on Rob England's book, BSM.
This is a romp through 80 slides, sharing the author's understanding and ideas of service management. Get a fresh simpler perspective and a basket of new ideas!

BSM: Basic Service Management

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How to operate any enterprise, described from the point of view of the services it delivers. After all, delivery is what success is all about. This workshop describes the author's simpler model for basic service management (for IT or anywhere else), based on Rob England's book, BSM.

Dead Cat Syndrome

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Do you have a formalized and thorough production handover process in place, or are you throwing dead cats over the fence? In some organizations a project is deemed ready for production handover when it has passed testing. Testing addresses what ITIL calls Utility and Warranty: the system does what it should, and it does so reliably/dependably. But there is more to consider, and without these further considerations many projects are as welcome in production as a dead cat thrown over the fence. Rob will profile all the components to consider before a system is put into production. He’ll review several must-dos and best practices from ITIL, and he’ll also add other important components needed for Operational Acceptance.

Continual People Improvement

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Recall the people/process/technology model. Most workshops teach the importance of fixing process. This workshop is about the importance of fixing people: i.e, about service culture and service orientation.
We begin by using humorous satire to define the “worst practice”. (Based on the satirical book Introduction to Real ITSM and the website at www.realitsm.com)
Then we examine what “good practice” does to change that, in particular what it does to drive a service culture.
Finally we develop a model for a cultural change program to develop service-oriented culture, built around performance management, knowledge and process. (Based on the He Tangata website at www.hetangata.com).

We also offer longer training courses