As the final entry in my series on problem management, I’d like to share a success story from a Hornbill client, Plymouth City Council, which can reasonably claim to be a pioneer in this area. The Council has overcome the challenges we’ve been discussing and made proactive problem management an integral part of its way of working. The challenge facing

In this series, I’ve been looking at the case for problem management and discussing some of the success factors and the techniques and approaches that can help in implementing it. Now I’d like to sum all this up by sharing 10 steps that reliably lead to success in problem management. 1. Establish ownership. Make a specific individual responsible and accountable

As I’ve argued in earlier blog posts in this series, ITIL provides a strong foundation for establishing problem management, particularly if it’s proactive. But, clear though the benefits are, problem management remains one of the most underused ITIL processes. Many organizations say they would tackle problem management if they had the time, but I believe other challenges are often standing

In this post I’ll outline the difference between proactive and reactive problem management – which isn’t as obvious as it sounds. Reactive is the more common form because it’s easier, but in my view organizations should be doing both. The key difference between reactive and proactive problem management is that reactive problem management involves looking at incidents that have happened