🎁 JSM Advent Calendar - Day 16: Problem Management (Root Cause Analysis)

[#1]

🦌 Why is Rudolph Sick Again?

Yesterday, we put out the fire (Incident Management). Today, we need to make sure the fire doesn't start again tomorrow.

The Scenario:

The sleigh broke down last year. It broke down this year. If Santa just patches the engine with duct tape every Christmas Eve, it will break down again next year. He needs to stop "fixing" it and start investigating why the engine keeps overheating in the first place.

The HR Reality:

You resolved the "Payroll Failure" incident from yesterday. Everyone got paid. Great! But... why did it happen?

• The Quick Fix: You manually processed the checks (The Band-Aid).

• The Root Cause: The integration between your HRIS and the Bank is outdated and crashes when user volume exceeds 1,000.

If you don't fix the Root Cause, you are destined to repeat the panic next month.

The JSM Solution:

Problem Management. In JSM, an Incident is for right now, but a Problem is for forever.

1. Create a Problem Record in JSM.

2. Link it to the previous Incident.

3. Assign this ticket to your Tech team to perform a Root Cause Analysis (RCA).

4. Goal: Update the banking API so this never happens again.

🎁 Tip of the Day:

Don't mix them up!

• Incident Management is about SPEED (put the fire out).

• Problem Management is about QUALITY (fireproof the building). You can't do deep investigation while the house is burning down. Solve the incident first, then open a Problem record to investigate the ashes.

---

❄️ Let’s chat: Do you have a "Groundhog Day" issue in your company? A problem that keeps coming back every few months that everyone just "deals with" instead of fixing permanently? Name and shame your recurring nightmares below 👇