Every CIO will tell you they’re committed to continual improvement. But look beyond the PowerPoint and you’ll find the truth:

🚫 No owned backlog.
🚫 No prioritised improvements.
🚫 No meaningful funding.
🚫 No operating rhythm.

Just a few lessons learned, some action logs from incidents, and maybe a dusty Service Review template last touched before the pandemic.

Continual Service Improvement (CSI) is not a process. It’s a leadership discipline. One that determines whether IT evolves, or quietly decays.

Why Most CSI Efforts Fail — And Why That’s a Leadership Problem

There’s a reason CSI gets quietly dropped from transformation programmes: it’s hard to measure, harder to fund, and often no one’s quite sure who owns it.

Here’s what failure looks like:

• Service reviews that feel like admin rituals.

• “Improvements” that focus on tech upgrades, not service outcomes.

• Tactical fixes driven by incidents, with no systemic change.

• Teams stretched thin across BAU and project work — so nothing improves.

And worst of all? No mechanism to learn, improve, and scale what works. IT stagnates while the business moves on.

✅ The Good: CSI as a Culture of Relentless Forward Motion

When CSI works, it’s a game-changer:

• There’s a living backlog of service improvements.

• Service owners own performance — not just uptime.

• Metrics improve quarter-on-quarter because someone is steering them.

• Improvement actions are funded, delivered, and embedded.

• IT becomes known for learning, adapting and delivering better every month.

CSI isn’t a workshop. It’s a rhythm.

❌ The Bad: The “Tick Box” Trap

Many orgs say they have CSI. What they actually have is:

• An action log in a SharePoint folder.

• A post-incident review template with “lessons learned” that never land.

• Metrics that move for a month, then stagnate.

• Reviews that feel like a blame game.

This isn’t improvement. It’s performance theatre.

CIO WAR CHEST: Questions to Cut Through the Illusion of CSI

Want to know if CSI is real in your organisation? Ask these, and ask for proof:

1. What is the current backlog of service improvements, by service?

   • Ask: Service Owner

   • Artefact: CSI register or service improvement backlog

2. How many improvement actions from the last 3 PIRs have been delivered and closed?

   • Ask: Problem or CSI Manager

   • Artefact: Action tracking dashboard

3. What % of support team time is ring-fenced for improvement vs BAU?

   • Ask: Service Desk or Ops Manager

   • Artefact: Resource plan or improvement allocation

4. What metrics are improving due to CSI — and how do you know?

   • Ask: Service Analyst or CSI Lead

   • Artefact: Metric trend data mapped to improvement initiatives

5. Who has accountability for continual improvement, and how is performance reviewed?

   • Ask: CIO or Service Governance Lead

   • Artefact: RACI model, CSI cadence calendar

Improvement Without Ownership Is Just Wishful Thinking

Here’s the reality: CSI without funding, ownership, and a delivery rhythm is just a to-do list in disguise.

CIOs must lead here. If you don’t embed improvement into the operating model — with capacity, cadence, and consequence — it won’t happen. You’ll continue to rely on heroics instead of systems.

Ask yourself: Is your team improving week-on-week? Or just surviving?

What CIOs Should Be Asking Themselves Right Now

• Where does improvement actually live in your org structure?

• Do service owners feel responsible for making services better?

• How is improvement tracked, funded, and measured — like projects are?

• If you left tomorrow, would improvement continue?

Need a Hand Getting CSI Off the Slide Deck and Into the System?

We help IT leaders build practical CSI rhythms that drive real change — not lip service.
If you want your improvement engine to finally run, we should talk.
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