Guiding principles
⏱ ~3-min readAceMark Guide
What this topic is really about
"Start where you are" tells teams to inspect and reuse current services, processes, people, and tools before building from scratch. "Focus on value" is the first principle but is about purpose, not method. "Keep it simple" relates to design, and "Optimize and automate" is the final principle.
"Keep it simple and practical" advises using the minimum number of steps to accomplish an objective and removing anything that fails to add value. "Optimize and automate" comes later and is about improving and then automating processes once they are understood and simplified.
See the mechanism
"Start where you are" tells teams to inspect and reuse current services, processes, people, and tools before building from scratch. A diagram for this topic isn't available yet — the worked example below walks the same reasoning step by step.
An exam-style question, fully explained
Which ITIL 4 guiding principle advises practitioners to assess what they already have and use it before designing anything new?
- Identify what the question tests: Which ITIL 4 guiding principle advises practitioners to assess what they already have and use it before designing anything new.
- "Start where you are" tells teams to inspect and reuse current services, processes, people, and tools before building from scratch.
- "Focus on value" is the first principle but is about purpose, not method.
- "Keep it simple" relates to design, and "Optimize and automate" is the final principle.
Traps the examiner sets
- "Keep it simple and practical" advises using the minimum number of steps to accomplish an objective and removing anything that fails to add value.
Test your recall
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