In short:
- ITIL 4, published in 2019, places seven guiding principles ahead of its 34 management practices.
- These principles are rules of conduct, not processes to execute: they exist to arbitrate, not to run.
- Three of them, start where you are, keep it simple and progress iteratively, are enough to frame most projects.
- The framework cannot certify an organisation: that certification falls under the ISO/IEC 20000 standard.
Why ITIL 4 starts with principles
Earlier ITIL versions mostly described processes. ITIL 4 reverses the order and sets out seven guiding principles, valid in any context, before going into practice detail. The intent is explicit: avoid the mechanical application of a procedure catalogue to an organisation whose actual maturity nobody has examined.
Rules of conduct, not steps
A guiding principle is not executed, it is invoked. Faced with a design choice, a scope trade-off or an exception request, it points to the direction to take.
The seven principles
| Principle | What it demands in practice |
|---|---|
| Focus on value | Tie every activity to an identifiable benefit for the service consumer |
| Start where you are | Measure what exists before replacing it, rather than starting from a blank page |
| Progress iteratively with feedback | Break work into short increments and verify the effect before continuing |
| Collaborate and promote visibility | Involve stakeholders and make the work observable |
| Think and work holistically | Treat the service as a whole, not as a sum of tools |
| Keep it simple and practical | Remove any step producing neither value nor information |
| Optimise and automate | Optimise first, automate second, never the reverse |
The last one deserves particular attention. Automating a badly designed process industrialises its defects, a point that applies equally to a ticket workflow and to an automated IT inventory collection.
The three principles that suffice at the start
- Start where you are: document the processes actually followed, workarounds included
- Keep it simple and practical: limit the first catalogue to high-volume requests
- Progress iteratively: deliver a narrow scope, measure, then widen
That progression matches the one recommended for an ESM initiative, which is no coincidence: both aim to avoid the cathedral project.
What ITIL does not say
ITIL describes practices, it prescribes neither tool nor org chart. The framework is silent on team structure, on choosing between a SaaS or self-hosted platform and on sizing the support function. Those decisions depend on context, which is precisely what the principle “start where you are” is there to remind you.
Frequently asked questions
What are the 7 guiding principles of ITIL 4?
ITIL 4 defines seven guiding principles: focus on value, start where you are, progress iteratively with feedback, collaborate and promote visibility, think and work holistically, keep it simple and practical, optimise and automate. They were introduced with the publication of ITIL 4 in 2019 and apply to any decision about organising services, technical or otherwise. They are rules of conduct rather than processes, which is why they sit ahead of the framework’s 34 management practices.
Are the ITIL guiding principles mandatory?
No. ITIL is a best practice framework, not a standard an organisation can be certified against. Certifying a service management system falls under ISO/IEC 20000.
How many practices does ITIL 4 contain?
ITIL 4 describes 34 management practices, split between general management practices, service management practices and technical management practices.