Problem Manager vs. Incident Manager

[rjackson68]

In ITIL v3 can you have the same person performing both roles?

[UKVIKING]

Exam question

RTFM
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

Change Management is POWER & CONTROL. /....evil laughter

[Diarmid]

much more interesting would be: in the real world can you have the same person performing both roles?

But we all know the answer.
_________________
"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718

[rjackson68]

I should have clarified a little bit. In the real world could they be the same person?

[UKVIKING]

yes. but should not
although the roles have diametrically opposed goals
incident mgr - restore service
problem mgr - find root cause

again
this is noted in the itil books and highhlighted in training course about incident and problem mgmt
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

Change Management is POWER & CONTROL. /....evil laughter

[Diarmid]

Told you we all know the answer.

Combining the roles only becomes sensible when your organization is far too small to assign the roles seperately. Probably when you have no more than one or two management level staff in total.
_________________
"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718

[UKIT]

When I saw the title "Problem Manager vs. Incident Manager", I had visions of a fight taking place.
In the red corner is the Incident Manager, keen to restore IT services as soon as possible.
In blue corner is the Problem Manger ready to establish the root cause, in order to prevent the incident from occurring again,
Ding ding round one, o dear neither can make any progress as the Service Asset & Configuration Management process is yet to be established.

Its been a long day.....

[abu1]

more and more companies are combining the two roles now. my job is a incident and problem manager. And have seen plenty of vacancies advertised with same title.

[Diarmid]

And do you have a protocol for mediating your inherent conflict of interest?

I agree. I have also seen many adverts that express or imply that the functions are under one management at the working level.

Incomprehensibly, ITIL has failed to make clear the difference.

Incomprehensible, because I have always found it perfectly clear. And yet I have been asked what the difference is at numerous job interviews as if it was some kind of challenging question.

Thus illustrating the gulf between best practice and common practice.
_________________
"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718

[abu1]

I think in practise there is alot of overlap between the two hence more and more companies are combining the two roles. ITIL is just guidlines and doesnt really work in every company needs to be tweaked. I too find incident and problem very similar in certain cases and 1 person can do both roles. you will see these roles being combined more oftern just makes sence

[Diarmid]

You are misinterpreting the context. ITIL is guidance, but it contains many completely legitimate statements whose truth is not dependent on ITIL and therefore not rejectable on the basis that "ITIL is guidance". ITIL recommends keeping the roles separate and this is rejectable if you choose (preferably for good reason). ITIL identifies the conflict of interest and this is not rejectable because it is not guidance.

It does not matter what ITIL says. What matters is that there is a conflict of interest in the objectives of the incident and problem management regimes. This is real and is derived from what the roles are. I.e. it is a matter of logic, not opinion.

Therefore, if you combine the two responsibilities in one person you need, from a governance perspective, to develop protocols for the management of this conflict of interest.
_________________
"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718