In the second webinar of "The USM Revolution" series on the Unified Service Management method, we received more live questions than we could handle online. Let's now answer Live Question 7 from that webinar:

"𝐈𝐟 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞, 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚 '𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫'?"

The 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 answer to this question is "I hope not! We'd have too many chiefs and no Indians."
The 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 answer would be this:

Before calling anyone a 'manager', we should define the term 'manage' and consequently the term 'manager'.
Firs of all: USM doesn't specify how an individual organization should be set up, based on best practices, USM only provides the architectural building blocks for the organizational domain and the rules to apply these. And that is limited to the most generic building blocks and principles, to avoid any interference with the local decision space of that organization.
In USM, we use a meta model that differentiates between manage, coordinate, and operate.
As a consequence, USM separates the 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐬 'manage', 'coordinate' and 'operate' from the 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 that is managed, coordinated or operated.
The verb 'manage' is defined as "Organizing tasks to achieve goals effectively and efficiently." (check https://lnkd.in/eyEuwBqb and the meta model).
So, 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 is not the same as 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 the 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 of tasks. Managing includes determining the design of the resources involved, and assuring these resources are sufficiently available for coordinators and operators. Managers discuss this with coordinators (and maybe operators) to 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑒 the way these coordinators coordinate the execution of the work by operators.
There is also a fundamental difference between 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 and management.
The term 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 is reserved for the 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑒 (check https://lnkd.in/eNNNMcjP) of someone who is made specifically responsible for the 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 of the 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞. This means that the service manager is not the 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 and also not the 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟.
So, luckily, not everyone is a 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑟. Or in other words: we make sure there are chiefs 𝑎𝑛𝑑 Indians.

The full recording of webinar 2 is here: https://lnkd.in/gfXbYCdU. All other recordings are here: https://lnkd.in/eJxqJpQA

If you want to learn more about the unique USM Process Model, please join us for the 4th webinar in the USM Revolution series on 15 October: https://ow.ly/RPRZ50TqCXM