How to become an
Incident & Problem Management Superstar
Christoph Goldenstern, Kepner-Tregoe
Jason Rosenfeld, Cask, LLC
Your presenters
Jason Rosenfeld
ITSM Practice Lead, Cask, LLC
Leads service management capability, providing consulting
and training services to KeyBank, Qualcomm, CSC and
more
jason.rosenfeld@caskllc.com
www.caskllc.com
Christoph Goldenstern
Global VP of Strategy and Service Excellence,
Kepner-Tregoe
Lead global customer service engagements with
companies like Siemens, IBM, Nokia
cgoldenstern@kepner-tregoe.com
www.kepner-tregoe.com
Kepner-Tregoe and ITIL®
ITIL Definitions
What Problem
Management Process
is, and why it is needed
ITIL Processes
Problem
Management
What Incident
Management is, and why
it is needed
Incident
Management
Process
Problem
Management
Process
Fundamental
KT Processes
How
What and why
Incident
Management
Situation Analysis:
Clarify & prioritize situation
Problem Analysis:
Identify root cause
Decision Analysis:
Select best fix
Potential Problem Analysis: Avoid future problems
Copyright © 2012 Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. All Rights Reserved
What vs. How
Situation Analysis:
Incident
Identification
Incident
Closure
Incident
Logging
Resolution and
Recovery
Incident
Categorization
Problem
Categorization
Investigation
and Diagnosis
Incident
Prioritization
Problem
Logging
Workaround
(if applicable)
Escalations (if
required)
Problem
Detection
Raise Known
Error Record
Investigation
and Diagnosis
Clarify & prioritize situation
Problem Analysis:
Identify root cause
Decision Analysis:
Select best fix
Potential Problem Analysis: Avoid future problems
Determine
Root Cause
Do you
notice any
gaps?
Duplication?
Problem
Closure
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Incident Management
Purpose
 Restore service as quickly as possible
Tips
 Categorize
 Prioritize by defining impact and urgency
 Upstream incidents by empowering selfservice and the Service Desk
 Document escalation paths, expected handoffs
(i.e. OLAs) and automate where possible
 Clearly articulate expected response and
resolution times to customers
 Identify Incident relationship with Changes
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Problem Management
Purpose
 Incident and Problem prevention by determining
root cause
Tips
 Understand the purpose of Incident and Problem
Management processes and associated data
 Allocate staff to identify trends for proactive
problem management
 Separate Major Problems from the rest of the
pack with clear criteria
 Maintain a Known Error Database
 Link Request for Change (RFC) generation
Copyright © 2012 Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Customer Pressure Points
Can‘t take the heat? You are not alone...
Increased
access to good
and bad data
Interdependancy
of Products
Economic Pressure
Pressure
Customer
Expectations
Technical
knowledge always
lagging behind
Complexity of
Environment
Copyright © 2012 Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. All Rights Reserved v
Incident Volumes on the rise
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What clients want
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The Service Capability Gap
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The changing service operations landscape
Changes:
Operational goals:
 We are facing a growing
technology complexity
avalanche
 COMMUNICATION: Stakeholders are
informed, and have confidence in the
information
 Incident and Problem
Management are more crucial
than ever to the stability of
our IT
 CERTAINTY: restoration and
troubleshooting processes create a sense of
control
 Uptime of services,
applications and systems is
key
 SPEED + QUALITY: we need both
 Consistency and quality of
IM and PM is becoming a
competitive advantage
 CLARITY: data is visible and clear to all
those participating
 RELIABLE: the system is restored, AND
recurring incidents minimized
> Being able to Think Correctly Under Pressure is a necessity
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KT Process is a Thinking Process
Input
Process
Result
Information
Customer
Experience
thinking
Problem
Resolved
Judgment
Knowledge
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KT Troubleshooting Methodology
ASSESS
RISKS
EVALUATE
ALTERNATIVES
IDENTIFY
LIKELY CAUSES
Identify Adverse
Consequences
MAKE
DECISION
Generate Alternatives
Screen through MUSTs
Compare against WANTs
Make the Best
Balanced Choice
CLARIFY PURPOSE
Develop Objectives
Classify into MUSTs
and WANTs
Weigh the WANTs
To balance benefits
and risks
What do we need
to decide?
What are we trying to do?
3. Decision Analysis:
To select best fix.
Effective Decision Making
POTENTIAL
PROBLEM
ANALYSIS
SITUATION
APPRAISAL
SET
TRIGGERS
Set Triggers
for Contingent Actions
Identify Concerns
Set Priority
Plan Next Steps
Plan Involvement
PROBLEM
ANALYSIS
THINK
BEYOND
THE FIX
To avoid
jumping to
cause
DESCRIBE
PROBLEM
PLAN
CONTINGENT
ACTION
Prepare Actions
to Reduce
Likely
Effects
4. Potential Problem Analysis:
To avoid future problems.
Risk Analysis
State the Problem
Specify the Problem
Extend the Cause
Extend the Fix
2. Problem Analysis:
To find root cause.
Problem Management
To avoid
reactive
action
TAKE
PREVENTIVE
ACTION
Take Action to
Address Likely Causes
State the Action
List Potential Problems
DECISION
ANALYSIS
STATE
DECISION
Consider Causes
for the Potential
Problems
IDENTIFY
POTENTIAL
PROBLEMS
CONFIRM
TRUE CAUSE
IDENTIFY
POSSIBLE CAUSES
Verify Assumptions,
Observe, or Try
a Fix and
Monitor
Use Knowledge and
Experience, or…
…Distinctions
and
Changes
EVALUATE
POSSIBLE
CAUSES
Test Possible Causes
Determine Most
Probable Cause
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1. Situation Appraisal:
To clarify and prioritize situation.
Plan Issue Resolution
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Example: Possible Causes and Testing
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Example: Possible Causes and Testing
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Example: Possible Causes and Testing
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KT in the context of IM and PM
Copyright © 2012 Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. All Rights Reserved
How to make it stick?
Retention of training after six months
Presentation
P + Demonstration
P + D + Participation
P + D + P + Role Modelling
P + D + P + RM + Personal Feedback
P + D + P + RM + PF + On-the-job-Coaching
Copyright © 2012 Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. All Rights Reserved
3%
5%
15%
25%
45%
85%
Adoption model
Quality
Process
Skill Transfer
(training)
x
Adoption
Coaching
+
=
Results
Resolution/
Restoration time
Cost per Incident/Problem
Customer Sat
Alignment of:
Processes and Triggers
Expectations > Consequences > Feedback
Measurement
Documentation and Knowledge Creation (software)
Role modeling (leadership)
Copyright © 2012 Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A defined, logical sequence of steps
List Issues
Assess
Priority
Assign
Actions
Describe
Problem
Evaluate
Possible
Causes
Apply
Solution
Time
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Coaching for quality
List Issues
Assess
Priority
Assign
Actions
Describe
Problem
Evaluate
Possible
Causes
Apply
Solution
Time
Copyright © 2012 Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Improving the IT Incident Management
of a professional services organization
Resolution Time
After KT process implementation
……>………………………>………………………>......................
Project Days
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Improving Problem Management
inside a Network Technology provider
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Mean time to solve by number
of technical staff involved
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Improving case quality
Copyright © 2012 Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Summary
Questions & Answers
 Questions and Answers
 Please contact us directly for:
 A copy of this presentation
 Access to several whitepapers that are available
on the topics presented
 Information on Kepner-Tregoe training
opportunities
Christoph Goldenstern
Phone: +1-609-252-2516
cgoldenstern@kepner-tregoe.com
christophgoldenstern
Find me on LinkedIn
Jason Rosenfeld
Phone: +1-858-200-2185
jason.rosenfeld@caskllc.com
@jasonrosenfeld
Find me on LinkedIn
Copyright © 2012 Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. All Rights Reserved