The guiding principles are recommendations that can guide an organisation in all circumstances, regardless of changes in goals, strategies, type of work, or management structure.
The guiding principles are universal and enduring.
They support decision-making and help organisations adopt and adapt service management practices.
There are seven guiding principles in ITIL.
The first guiding principle is focus on value.
Everything the organisation does should link back to value for customers and other stakeholders.
The second guiding principle is start where you are.
This means understanding the current state and not discarding what already works.
The third guiding principle is progress iteratively with feedback.
Improvements should be made in small steps, with regular feedback.
The fourth guiding principle is collaborate and promote visibility.
Working together and sharing information helps improve outcomes.
The fifth guiding principle is think and work holistically.
This means considering the whole system rather than individual parts.
The sixth guiding principle is keep it simple and practical.
Unnecessary complexity should be avoided.
The seventh guiding principle is optimise and automate.
Organisations should optimise processes before automating them.
The guiding principles apply to all aspects of the service value system and all practices.
2. How This Applies to TakeCars (Car Rental Marketplace)
This video is extremely exam-heavy and also very founder-relevant. The guiding principles are effectively a decision filter.
a) Guiding principles = daily decision rules at TakeCars
Almost every mistake in a marketplace can be traced to violating one of these principles.
b) Principle-by-principle mapping to TakeCars
1. Focus on value
- Value is not features
- Value is successful trips with low stress
Bad signal:
- Building something because competitors have it
Good signal:
- Reducing cancellations
- Reducing pickup confusion
- Increasing repeat bookings
2. Start where you are
- Do not rewrite the platform because it is “messy”
- Do not discard manual processes that still work
For TakeCars:
- Automate only after you understand current pain points
- Improve before replacing
3. Progress iteratively with feedback
- Small changes
- Fast feedback
- Adjust quickly
Examples:
- Test a new host rule with 10 hosts
- Pilot a new message template for one city
Large “big bang” releases are high risk.
4. Collaborate and promote visibility
For TakeCars:
- Hosts need visibility into expectations
- Support needs visibility into bookings
- You need visibility into where things break
Hidden work creates hidden failures.
5. Think and work holistically
- Fixing search alone will not fix cancellations
- Fixing support alone will not fix trust
Always think end-to-end:
Search → Book → Pickup → Trip → Return → Review
6. Keep it simple and practical
Exam loves this principle.
For TakeCars:
- Fewer rules beat complex policies
- One clear pickup instruction beats five optional notes
- Simple dashboards beat complex analytics
7. Optimise and automate
Critical exam nuance:
- Optimise first
- Automate second
Bad example:
- Automating a broken host onboarding flow
Good example:
- Fix onboarding
- Then automate reminders and checks
c) Exam insight
If a question asks:
“Which guiding principle applies?”
Look for keywords:
- Value
- Current state
- Feedback
- Collaboration
- Holistic
- Simple
- Automation
One of the seven is almost always the answer.
3. Key Things to Read / Remember Right Before the Exam
The seven guiding principles (must be memorised)
- Focus on value
- Start where you are
- Progress iteratively with feedback
- Collaborate and promote visibility
- Think and work holistically
- Keep it simple and practical
- Optimise and automate
Wording matters. Do not paraphrase in the exam.
High-probability exam traps
- Automate before optimisation → Wrong
- Replace everything immediately → Wrong
- Guiding principles apply only to IT → Wrong
They apply everywhere.
One-line memory hook
The guiding principles are universal rules that help make good decisions in any situation.
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