Why Problem Management As a Practice Is Undervalued in Many Organizations—and How to Change That?

Problem Management

Problem Management, one of the core ITIL practices, is designed to prevent recurring incidents and minimize the impact of unavoidable ones. Despite its potential to reduce costs, improve stability, and increase customer satisfaction, it often ends up as the most neglected or underutilized process in many organizations. This article explores why Problem Management is overlooked, and offers actionable strategies to make it a productive and visible practice.

The Underrated Role of Problem Management

Unlike Incident Management, which is reactive and focused on restoring services quickly, Problem Management is proactive and analytical. Its success is often invisible—when it's working well, there are fewer incidents, which paradoxically may lead management to question its necessity.

Why It Isn’t Taken Seriously: Key Challenges

1. Misunderstanding of Purpose

Many teams confuse Problem Management with Major Incident Management or root cause analysis. This leads to limited or reactive investigations only after a crisis, not a consistent process of eliminating systemic issues.

2. Lack of Immediate ROI

The benefits of Problem Management—reduced incident volumes, increased availability, improved user experience—are long-term and often indirect. Unlike quick wins in incident resolution, its outcomes are harder to quantify and showcase.

3. No Dedicated Resources

Often, Problem Management is treated as a “part-time” responsibility by overburdened incident managers or service desk staff. Without ownership, there’s little accountability or strategic oversight.

4. Poor Tooling and Data Quality

A lack of robust analytics tools or historical incident data undermines efforts to identify patterns, trends, and root causes. Poor integration with Configuration Management or lack of a known error database (KEDB) further limits impact.

5. Low Visibility in Leadership Metrics

Dashboards and KPIs that prioritize incident resolution time and SLA compliance rarely include Problem Management metrics. This lack of visibility means leadership focus—and funding—goes elsewhere.

6. Cultural Resistance

In a culture that values firefighting, proactive analysis may be seen as "slowing down" operations. There’s a belief that "getting things back up" is more valuable than "finding out why things went wrong."

How to Make Problem Management Productive and Visible

1. Clarify Scope and Ownership

Define the scope of Problem Management clearly in terms of goals, responsibilities, and governance. Assign dedicated Problem Managers or a team empowered to investigate and act.

2. Establish Measurable KPIs

Introduce metrics such as: - Number of recurring incidents reduced - Mean time between incidents (MTBI) - Known errors identified and resolved - Problems identified proactively vs. reactively Regularly report these in leadership reviews to drive attention and accountability.

3. Use a Known Error Database (KEDB)

Maintaining a living KEDB helps reduce incident resolution times, provides insight into common issues, and builds a foundation for root cause elimination.

4. Integrate with Other Practices

Problem Management should work closely with: - Incident Management (to identify potential problems) - Change Enablement (to implement fixes) - Continual Improvement (to assess process maturity) - Configuration Management (to understand dependencies)

5. Automate Trend Analysis

Use analytics tools to detect patterns in incident data. Leverage AI/ML where possible for predictive insights. Automation reduces manual effort and improves accuracy in problem identification.

6. Recognize and Reward Proactive Behavior

Encourage teams to log problems even if they haven’t yet caused a major outage. Create a culture that values preventive action, not just firefighting.

7. Raise Executive Awareness

Use storytelling to showcase Problem Management success. For example: “After identifying and fixing the root cause of an intermittent database crash, we prevented 14 high-priority incidents in Q1—saving an estimated 120 hours of service downtime.” Presenting the cost of inaction is often more compelling than just benefits.

8. Continuous Training and Maturity Assessment

Upskill teams in problem-solving techniques (e.g., 5 Whys, Fishbone Diagram, Kepner-Tregoe). Conduct periodic maturity assessments to evaluate progress and plan improvements.

Summary

Problem Management is not just a support function—it's a strategic enabler of stability and efficiency. Organizations that neglect it remain stuck in reactive cycles, wasting time, money, and user trust. By investing in people, processes, and tools—and embedding a culture that values prevention over reaction—organizations can transform Problem Management from an overlooked process into a core pillar of IT and business performance.