OK – so you know you should probably do something about this ITIL thing that every OpsMgr and their dog keeps yapping on and on about.

But where do you start? – ITIL is such a knowledge-heavy field with the essential volumes filling up a couple of football fields, that the entry barrier is so high you need a ladder just to see the barbed wire at the top!

But there is hope – you can do ITIL gradually and at your own pace, without spending fortunes on certifications and getting cross-eyed from reading!

If you want a quick an’ dirty intro to the complex subject of ITSM, I can personally recommend the Best Management Introductory Overview of ITIL-v3 book, which gives you the lay of the ITIL land very concisely and effectively and best of all, the PDF download is free.

Once you’ve got a couple of ITSM pointers under your belt, you’re ready to tackle a more practically oriented text.

This is where the IT process Institutes Visible Ops Visible Ops book comes into play.

In my mind, quite simply the best most practically applicable guide for doing an ITIL implementation in your organization – bar none. This one is not free, but so worth the investment.

ITPI also has a Visible Ops Security book, that comes equally highly recommended if you need to give your organizations security procedures a boost.

All in all – a not too expensive way into ITSM beginners nirvana – you might not ace an ITIL certification after reading these texts, but you’ll be armed with a lot of very practical information that you can integrate into your organizations current service processes.

Now shut down your browser and go read!