Guiding Principles of ITIL V4 (Simplified)

Contrary to the 9 principles of ITIL V3, ITIL V4 has only 7 principles. Following is the gist of the 7 principles of ITIL V4:

1. Focus on value
   1. Everything we do must add value from the stakeholders’ perspective [or remove everything that doesn’t add value].
      
      
2. Collaborate and promote visibility
   1. Work together across boundaries for more buy-in and success.
   2. Share information and build understanding and trust.
   3. Make work and consequences visible.
   4. Break silos and driving towards shared and not competitive objectives.
      
      
3. Start where you are
   1. Don’t reinvent the wheel – leverage what’s already available.
   2. Observe directly and fully understand the current state first.
      
      
4. Think and work holistically
   1. Work on the service, not just its parts.
   2. Integrate information, technology, organization, people, practices, partners, and agreements.
   3. Promote synthetic thinking (system as a whole) and not just analytical thinking (system in parts).
      
      
5. Progress iteratively with feedback
   1. Don’t try to do everything at once.
   2. Organize work into smaller, manageable chunks done more often.
   3. Use feedback in each iteration to ensure actions are appropriate.
      
      
6. Keep it simple and practical
   1. Eliminate anything that provides no value.
   2. Use the minimum number of steps to accomplish objectives.
   3. Use outcome-based thinking for practical solutions and results.
      
      
7. Optimize and automate
   1. Use resources, particularly human resources, to best effect.
   2. Eliminate unnecessary dependencies and waste.
   3. Use technology to achieve whatever it can do.
   4. Only use human intervention where it adds value.