17 Years of Lessons Learned as a ServiceNow Implementation Engagement Manager

Seventeen years ago, I walked into my first ServiceNow implementation not knowing it would define the course of my career. Back then, ServiceNow was a lean IT Service Management tool—far from the enterprise powerhouse it has become today.

Across hundreds of projects, I’ve learned that implementations are never just about technology. They’re about people, processes, and outcomes. Here are the biggest lessons from nearly two decades in the trenches.

The Early Days

When I started, the ServiceNow ecosystem was still small (mind you this was several releases before Aspen's 2011 release).  Frameworks were immature, best practices were scarce, and every project felt like uncharted territory. Convincing clients to move critical processes to a little-known cloud platform required persistence, creativity, and trust-building.

That experience revealed a truth that still holds: implementations succeed less because of the platform itself, and more because of how well people and processes align to it.

Lessons Learned Over the Years

1. Stakeholder Management Is Everything
Projects succeed or fail on relationships. An Engagement Manager is a translator between business needs and technical execution. The Project Manager cares about time, cost, and scope; the Executive Sponsor cares about ROI, adoption, and outcomes. True success means understanding both perspectives and delivering to meet them.

2. Change Is the Only Constant
ServiceNow has expanded far beyond ITSM, and with each new domain comes the need to help clients see new possibilities. Change also happens mid-project—teams shift, priorities evolve, and requirements adapt. This is why tools like change orders aren’t just financial levers—they’re opportunities to reshape value.

3. Methodology Brings Discipline
Without structure, large programs drift. Frameworks, governance, and risk management bring much-needed discipline. Agile methods work well, but only when paired with accountability and outcome focus. That said, a “successful” project isn’t just on-time, on-budget, and in-scope. True success is delivering value as defined by stakeholders, even if that means adapting scope to better serve the organization.

4. Users First, Always
Go-live isn’t the finish line. Adoption, training, and continuous improvement matter far more than technical delivery alone. If end users don’t embrace the platform, the project has failed—no matter how well the configuration was done.

5. Collaboration Builds Bridges
Engagement Managers sit at the intersection of developers, architects, sponsors, and executives. The real magic is aligning all of them around a shared vision. Transparency is your greatest tool. When nothing is hidden—even when things go sideways—trust builds, collaborative solutions can be explored, relationships strengthen, and projects stay on track.

Mistakes I’ve Seen (and Made)

Across projects, some pitfalls show up again and again:

• Over-Customization: Just because you can build it doesn’t mean you should.
• Neglecting Change Management: A perfect solution fails without adoption.
• Underestimating Data and Integrations: Clean, reliable foundations are everything.
• Ignoring the “Day 2” Plan: Post-go-live support and roadmaps are as important as launch.

Final Thoughts

These lessons, forged through trial and error, remain as relevant today as they were in my first implementation. Technology projects succeed not because of platforms alone, but because people, alignment, and outcomes are put at the center.