Quick Answer
The answer is 'Focus on value' and 'Collaborate and promote visibility' as two of the seven ITIL 4 guiding principles. Focus on value ensures that every activity, process, and decision in service management directly contributes to creating measurable outcomes for stakeholders, rather than simply completing tasks for their own sake. Collaborate and promote visibility, meanwhile, emphasizes breaking down silos, involving the right people, and making work and results transparent to reduce waste and improve decision-making. On the ITIL 4 Foundation exam, you will often see a question asking you to identify which two principles are correct from a list of options, with common traps including principles that sound similar but are not official, such as "continuous improvement" being a practice rather than a principle. A helpful memory tip is to think of the acronym V-C-O-C-I-O-P: Value, Collaborate, Optimize, Continual Improvement, Iterative, Observe, and Progress—but remember that "Focus on value" and "Collaborate and promote visibility" are two distinct principles you must recognize by name.
This ITIL4F practice question tests your understanding of key concepts of it service management. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which TWO of the following are ITIL guiding principles?
Increase speed
Why wrong: Increase speed is not a guiding principle.
Focus on value
Focus on value is a guiding principle.
Manage risk
Why wrong: Manage risk is not a guiding principle; it's a concept.
Collaborate and promote visibility
Collaborate and promote visibility is a guiding principle.
Reduce cost
Why wrong: Reduce cost is not a guiding principle.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Focus on value
Option B is correct because 'Focus on value' is one of the seven ITIL 4 guiding principles, which emphasizes that all activities and processes should directly contribute to value creation for stakeholders. This principle ensures that every service management decision is aligned with delivering measurable outcomes, not just completing tasks.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Increase speed
Why it's wrong here
Increase speed is not a guiding principle.
Focus on value
Why this is correct
Focus on value is a guiding principle.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Manage risk
Why it's wrong here
Manage risk is not a guiding principle; it's a concept.
Collaborate and promote visibility
Why this is correct
Collaborate and promote visibility is a guiding principle.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Reduce cost
Why it's wrong here
Reduce cost is not a guiding principle.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse common IT management goals (like increasing speed or reducing cost) with the actual ITIL 4 guiding principles, which are specifically defined as 'Focus on value', 'Start where you are', 'Progress iteratively with feedback', 'Collaborate and promote visibility', 'Think and work holistically', 'Keep it simple and practical', and 'Optimize and automate'.
Detailed technical explanation
The seven ITIL 4 guiding principles are derived from Lean, Agile, DevOps, and other frameworks, and they are designed to be universally applicable, not prescriptive. For example, 'Focus on value' requires mapping every activity to a value stream and using techniques like outcome-based metrics (e.g., customer satisfaction scores) rather than output-based metrics (e.g., ticket volume). In a real-world scenario, a service desk applying this principle would prioritize resolving incidents that block a critical business process over lower-impact tickets, even if the latter are faster to close.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the ITIL4F exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
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FAQ
Key Concepts of IT Service Management — This question tests Key Concepts of IT Service Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Focus on value — Option B is correct because 'Focus on value' is one of the seven ITIL 4 guiding principles, which emphasizes that all activities and processes should directly contribute to value creation for stakeholders. This principle ensures that every service management decision is aligned with delivering measurable outcomes, not just completing tasks.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This ITIL4F practice question is part of Courseiva's free PeopleCert certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the ITIL4F exam.
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