https://esm-guide.com/en/tags/best-practices/Recent content in Best Practices on ESM GuideHugoen-USWed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://esm-guide.com/en/blog/itil-4-guiding-principles/Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://esm-guide.com/en/blog/itil-4-guiding-principles/<blockquote> <p><strong>In short:</strong></p> <ol> <li>ITIL 4, published in 2019, places seven guiding principles ahead of its 34 management practices.</li> <li>These principles are rules of conduct, not processes to execute: they exist to arbitrate, not to run.</li> <li>Three of them, start where you are, keep it simple and progress iteratively, are enough to frame most projects.</li> <li>The framework cannot certify an organisation: that certification falls under the ISO/IEC 20000 standard.</li> </ol> </blockquote> <h2 id="why-itil-4-starts-with-principles">Why ITIL 4 starts with principles</h2> <p>Earlier ITIL versions mostly described processes. ITIL 4 reverses the order and sets out seven <strong>guiding principles</strong>, 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.</p>