Shit happens

Another post, and yep the review of the problem management section in MOF continues!

It states: "The primary goal of Problem Management is to reduce the occurrence of failures with IT services. Its secondary goals are to generate data and lessons that IT can use to provide feedback during the IT life cycle and to help drive the development of more stable solutions."

This bit although well written highlights the inconsistencies in previous statements made in the problem management section.

• It is about the service and not the system.
• Dealing with failures is a priority.
• It is about throwing the dead cats back with PostIT notes.

However, there is a small semantic error. The occurrence of failures is not reduced. Shock, horror, close the department, they have not added any business value! The primary goal of problem management is to reduce the rate of failure occurrence within IT services. Let us have a sip of reality. Failures will not be eliminated. As Forrest Gump said, Shit happens! However, if shit happens once a week, as opposed to each day then problem management (err, IT Safety) is doing its job.
The goals as written here, also imply that problem management is not required should shit not happen for a long time. That is why it is IT Safety, because shit will eventually happen.
In addition, I think there is a more important secondary goal than the one stated. It is to optimize the time lines in the expanded incident life cycle! When shit happens, it should happen smoothly! The time lines in the expanded incident life cycle are the best indicators of problems. Poor service and process inefficiencies are a major source of problems as opposed to specific system related problems. The way the dead cat is resurrected and given CPR, is of higher importance than throwing it back over the wall, with PostIT notes.