Starting a ServiceNow Team – What Should We Get Right Early?

[AdnanB_]

Hi all,

We’ve recently started building a small ServiceNow capability team (7 people, structured roles – BA, admin, TPM, developer), currently in early training and certification phase.

Our goal is to grow into a reliable delivery partner over time.

I’d be interested to hear from more experienced ServiceNow practitioners and partners:

– Where do you typically see the biggest bottlenecks in delivery teams?
– Which roles are hardest to scale or find?
– What do you wish junior teams understood earlier?
– How do smaller or emerging teams typically get their first real exposure to projects or delivery environments?

Appreciate any insights from the community.

[JenniferRah · Accepted solution]

Here are a few things, in brain dump order. 🙂

Make sure your BAs are technical. If they aren't, they will struggle to gather accurate requirements for the developers. Then your developers will have to be heavily involved in requirements gathering and will spend less time doing actual development work.

I'm not sure how many of each role you have, but the longest process is the analysis, so you will need multiple BAs per developer. 

It's best not to have just one developer so that they can back each other up. That might mean your admins double as developers if you don't have staff to have multiple developers at first.

Document things in KB articles for users as much as possible to help with user training and troubleshooting common issues.

If you have the staff to do it, train your users. There is a learning curve to ServiceNow. If you can help users over that learning curve, they will be happier with the tool, and you will have fewer support issues.

Err on the side of keeping things as OOTB as possible. You'll be glad of that when you do upgrades. 

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @AdnanB_ 

I’m writing this as a platform owner and would be happy to hear thoughts from more experienced ServiceNow practitioners and partners as well

1. Where do you typically see the biggest bottlenecks in delivery teams?
Atul: BA/BPC roles are often not readily available, yet they are the front face for clients. The knowledge they hold is very important.

2. Which roles are hardest to scale or find?
Atul: It’s hard to say definitively, but BA/BPC and Architects are critical as they work closely together. They need strong product knowledge and experience to effectively support the platform. It’s not always about certifications—the right mindset and understanding of how to help customers matters more.

3. What do you wish junior teams understood earlier?
Atul: Learn the fundamentals properly. Don’t assume or skip basics. Coding skills (JavaScript) are important here, and understanding processes—how different modules and workflows function—is essential.

4. How do smaller or emerging teams typically get their first real exposure to projects or delivery environments?
Atul: Be open to challenges. Saying “I can’t do it because I haven’t worked on it before” won’t help. Team effort and willingness to learn make it possible.