ITIL 4 SL cheat sheet

Digital strategy defines how an organization uses digital technology and capabilities to achieve business goals; IT strategy defines how technology services and assets are built, delivered, and managed to support that direction.

Strategy formulation answers where to play, how to win, what capabilities are required, and how progress will be measured; it is iterative and revisited as external conditions change.

External analysis techniques include PESTLE (political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental) and Porter’s five forces; internal analysis includes SWOT and capability or value-stream assessment.

VUCA describes volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous conditions; strategy balances deliberate plans with emergent responses and explicit risk tolerance.

Digital transformation changes business models, operating models, and customer experiences through technology; it is not equivalent to adopting a single tool or automating an existing process.

Digital disruption occurs when new digital entrants or business models change customer expectations and value structures faster than incumbents can respond.

Innovation types include sustaining, efficiency, disruptive, and radical; portfolio balance depends on risk appetite, time horizon, and expected value.

Strategic execution requires aligned governance, funding, capabilities, culture, and metrics; a strategy without execution mechanisms remains an intention.

ITIL 4 DITS links strategy to value streams and the service value chain; strategic objectives trace to value-stream outcomes and measurable service performance.

Directing sets direction through vision, policy, governance, and priorities; planning converts direction into coordinated portfolios, budgets, schedules, and resource commitments.

Governance assigns accountability for direction and control; management executes within delegated authority and reports performance against agreed objectives.

The ITIL 4 continual improvement model has seven steps: vision, current state, target state, route, action, evaluation, and sustaining momentum.

Continual improvement uses a register to capture opportunities, evaluate value and risk, prioritize, and track improvement through to closure.

Prioritization compares value, risk, effort or cost, urgency, and dependencies; a value-versus-effort matrix exposes quick wins and low-value work.

Stakeholder analysis identifies influence, interest, needs, and communication preferences; engagement plans differ for sponsors, users, regulators, and delivery teams.

Organizational change management addresses people impacts through communication, training, role changes, resistance handling, and reinforcement so benefits are realized.

KPIs measure outcomes and performance; leading indicators predict direction, lagging indicators confirm results; critical success factors define what must go right.

Value-stream mapping shows how work flows to the customer, exposes delays and handoffs, and identifies improvement points across the end-to-end service value chain.