Book excerpt: ITIL(R) Practitioner Guidance is the essential reference text which accompanies the ITIL Practitioner qualification. Fully integrated with the ITIL Practitioner syllabus, this publication is also a practical guide that helps IT service management (ITSM) professionals turn ITIL theory into practice through case studies, worksheets, templates and scenarios. The book assumes knowledge of ITIL and ITSM up to ITIL Foundation level, and begins with a discussion of the guiding principles of ITSM: -Focus on value -Start where you are -Progress iteratively -Be transparent -Keep it simple -Design for experience -Work holistically -Observe directly -Collaborate It goes on to explain how these guiding principles are essential for ITSM and how they relate to philosophies, frameworks and methodologies such as DevOps, Lean, Agile etc. The publication shows how following the CSI (continual service improvement) approach, and how the core skills of organizational change management, communication, metrics and measurement, can underpin successful ITSM improvement initiatives.