the lost world of problem management (2009)

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I DON’T GET

IT

ISN’T IT MAJOR

INCIDENT

HANDLING?

Australian IT Service Management & Help Desk Summit 2009

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 “……ITIL’s  clarifica/on  of  an  “incident”  versus  a  “problem”  clears  up  confusion  about  what  ac/ons  need  to  take  place  during  which  process”  

  “An  incident  occurs  at  the  moment  a  service  request  or  outage  is  

called  into  a  service  center.  ACer  that  call  the  company  works  to  get  that  customer  up  and  running,  at  which  point  you  close  the  incident  and  deploy  a  separate  team  to  handle  the  problem,  which  is  defined  once  the  team  find  a  series  of  incidents  that  can  be  /ed  together”  

 “That’s  when  you  have  your  root  cause  which  becomes  a  known  error”  

 Susana  Schwartz  quo/ng  John  Long  (Tivoli  technical  strategist  for  IBM)  

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 An  Incident  is:  An  unplanned  interrup-on  to  an  IT  Service  or  reduc-on  in  the  quality  of  an  IT  Service.  Failure  of  a  Configura-on  Item  that  has  not  yet  affected  Service  is  also  an  Incident.  

 A  Problem  is:  A  cause  of  one  or  more  Incidents.  The  cause  is  not  usually  known  at  the  -me  a  Problem  Record  is  created,  and  the  Problem  Management  process  is  responsible  for  further  inves-ga-on.  

  An Incident NEVER becomes or turns into a Problem!!!!

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 “Whilst  most  organisa/ons  develop  processes  and  procedures  around  Incident  Management  many  fail  to  do  the  same  for  Problem  Management”  

 “OCen  this  is  due  to  a  lack  of  clear  understanding  of  the  characteris/cs  of  the  two  ac/vi/es.”  

 “Incident  Management  is  the  simplest  ac/vity  to  understand  because  it  involves  puQng  structure  around  the  response  to  service  interrup/ons”  

                         Victor  Capella  “A  Framework  for  Incident  and  Problem  Management”  

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 ITIL  itself  is  to  blame!  

 Quality  Incident  Management  data      

 Major  Incident  handling  is  INCIDENT  MANAGEMENT  

 Problem  Management  should  be  inves/ga/ng                      root  cause  

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 The  “Hero  Factor”  

 Ask  the  hard  ques/ons  

 Change  the  reward  system  

 Management  commitment  

 Quick  Wins  

 Marke/ng  –  sell,  sell,  sell!!!  

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 Don’t  underes/mate  the  effort   Good  Incident  Management    

 The  right  people  "  Business  knowledge  "  Facilita/on  and  coordina/on  "  Think  outside  the  square  "  Good  verbal  and  wri_en  communica/on  skills  

"  Analy/cal  and  diagnos/cs  skills  "  Problem  solving  techniques  

CULTURE CHANGE!

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 Knowledge  base   Ownership   Suppor/ng  tools   Business  priori/es  

 Target  preventa/ve  ac/on  /  resources   Interfaces  

 Suppliers  

 Development  

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 Integra/on   Incident  Management   Configura/on  Management   Change  Management  &  Release  Management   Financial  Management  for  IT  Services   Availability  Management   IT  Service  Con/nuity  Management   Service  Level  Management   Development  lifecycle  

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 Kepner Tregoe Analysis  What? Where? When? How much?

 Ishikawa Diagram  Cause and Effect Analysis

 Pareto Analysis  80/20 rule

 Causal Table  Why-Because Technique

 Creative Problem Solving  Lateral Thinking / SIMPLEX / SCAMPER etc.

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 Grid Analysis  Used when a number of good alternatives exist and many

factors are to be taken into account

 Force Field Analysis  Looks at all forces for and against

a decision

 Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)  Decision making tool when both qualitative and

quantitative aspects need consideration

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 Remove  “red  herrings”  

 Educa/on  

 Design  

 Tes/ng  

 “Super-­‐user”  

 Delete  the  cover-­‐ups    

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   Financial     Problems  fell  by  39%     Reduced  mean/me  to  iden/fy  failures  by  20%     Reduced  mean  /me  to  resolve  by  27%     Reduced  mean  /me  to  recovery  by  52%  

  Educa/on    Reduc/on  in  cri/cal  &  urgent  Incidents  from  22  per  week  to  1  over  12  months  

  Energy    30%  reduc/on  in  high  severity  Incidents  over  3  months  

  Outsourcer      Opportunity    

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 Don’t  implement  Problem  Management  in  the  guise  of  Incident  Management  

 Retain  “true”  Problem  Management  staff  

 Equip  staff  with  the  right  tools  and  techniques   Acknowledge  the  conflict  of  interest   Ensure  the  experts  you  engage  really  understand  the  

difference!  

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Karen.Ferris@itsmf.org.au

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