How to avoid fire fightingImplementation of Active Problem Management

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JN Data customers

Jyske BankNykredit

BankdataBEC w. NationalbankenSDCSilkeborg Data

+40.000 workstations in the infrastructure

200 bankinginstitutions which all have numerous sites

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Incident vs. Problem Management

Source: Chris Finden-Browne, IBM UK

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The challenge in classic “troubleshooting”

Incident Management• Justified reactive by

nature.• At best, minimizing

impact

Asking: WHAT

Problem Management• Sometimes proactive, but

mostly reactive• Risc of overseeing

opportunities

Asking: WHY

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The Organizational Challenge

”we are busy handling P1 Incidents, so no time is left for Problems regardless of Priority”

Citation: Technical Lead Accountable for ”P3 Problems” in own technical silo in JN Data 20/11-2018

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Paradox!

The Cause(s) found in Problems are the root/true cause – the reason the Incidents happened in the first place.

The Organizational Challenge

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What is Proactive Problem Solving?

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Potential for avoiding fire fighting

• Past Problem Analysis

• Customer Requests• Extend the

Fix/Cause• Events and

monitoring, trends

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Potential for avoiding fire fighting

• Situation Appraisal• Vendor or Industry

information• Intuition and

hunches• Potential Problem

Analysis

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The difference between the Root and True cause

and a word about the Trigger Cause..

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The Organizational Challenge

”Active Problem Management”

Gather a team of educated (KT) analysts

P1/P2 Problems

Investigationsfacilitated by a skilled Problem Manager tracking the implementation of the solution.

Typically complex or cross functionalProblems

The Organizational Challenge

”Passive/reactiveProblem Management”

P3 Problems

Investigationsfacilitated by a Technical Lead

The outcome of Major Incidents and Incidents that led to RCA management reportering

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Implementation of Problem Management in JN Data

•Monthly roll-up meetings

•Grey problem discussion

•Automatic generation of Problems

•ITSM process implementation

•Interfaces• TL, MI, CM e.g.•Education•Templates

•Prioritizing•Management methods

•Reporting

Proces/Procedurer

People/Internal

CustomerTechnology

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The Kepner-Tregoe Critical Thinking dimensions

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Step 3 – Decision Analysis

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A real world exampleA story about slow servers in JN Data

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Stuff to read

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