What Is a Problem Manager? Roles and Responsibilities

IT teams are professional problem-solvers, whether they’re responding to incidents or developing new technology to meet unmet needs. But while the problem manager’s title might suggest otherwise, their job is not to solve problems; it’s to help businesses avoid them. 

The problem manager plays a key role in ITSM (IT Service Management). Their primary objective is to identify potential problems, prevent incidents that can be avoided, and minimize the fallout from those that can’t.

What exactly does a problem manager do? What are their roles and responsibilities, goals, and challenges? Where do they fit into the IT organization? And what skills and tools do they use to get the job done?

What is a problem manager?

A problem manager is an IT professional responsible for managing the lifecycle of all problems within an organization's IT infrastructure. Operating within the ITIL framework, this role focuses on identifying, analyzing, and resolving the root causes of incidents to prevent their recurrence and minimize the impact on business operations.

Unlike incident managers who focus on restoring services quickly, problem managers take a strategic approach to eliminate underlying issues permanently. They serve as the bridge between reactive incident response and proactive service improvement, ensuring that IT services remain stable, reliable, and aligned with business objectives.

In essence, a problem manager acts as the organization's IT detective, investigating patterns, analyzing trends, and implementing solutions that transform recurring incidents into resolved problems. Their work directly contributes to reducing downtime, improving service quality, and enhancing overall user satisfaction.

What does a problem manager do?

Problems are inevitable, but smart people learn from their mistakes so they don’t keep making them. The same is true for smart IT organizations, and the problem manager leads that charge. They do this by:

• Gathering data on incident trends, hardware and software failures, and resource utilization and capacity issues

• Analyzing these trends to identify potential problems and/or recurring incidents 

• Identifying potential solutions, assessing the impact of each, and evaluating alternatives

• Putting strategies and processes in place to solve problems once and for all

Key activities a problem manager performs

Because problem management is a big-picture job, an ITIL problem manager has a wide range of responsibilities. The job varies from day to day, and from project to project, but it generally involves: 

• Collaboration: Problem managers collaborate with many other service management roles. They work most closely with the incident management team, which analyzes incident records to identify repeat incidents, and the change management team, which implements permanent fixes to problems.

• Coordination: The problem manager is responsible for coordinating all aspects of problem diagnosis and resolution. They must understand the knowledge and skill sets throughout the IT organization, so they can determine which subject matter experts are best suited to help solve each problem. 

• Communication: The problem manager maintains an overview of the problem queue, updates status, and keeps affected stakeholders informed of progress.

• Facilitation: The problem manager should be a key member of any team created to manage a major incident. While the incident team works on resolving the immediate problem, the problem manager facilitates data collection and analysis, looking for a long-term fix.

• Prioritization: Problem managers must understand the business goals by working with leaders across the organization to understand the impact of problems, so they can correctly prioritize problems for resolution.

• Documentation: A key part of the role is creating and managing a knowledge base, with information about known errors and workarounds for the service desk and self-service portals to use.

Roles and responsibilities of a problem manager

The role of a problem manager is to find new ways to prevent old problems. Problem management roles and responsibilities include:

• Improving the quality of IT services: Repeat incidents frustrate staff and customers. This affects the business’s bottom line by increasing costs, decreasing staff productivity, and decreasing customer satisfaction and retention. A proactive problem manager can minimize these impacts by preventing repeat incidents, thus improving the quality and reliability of IT services.

• Managing organizational risks: The problem manager is responsible for understanding any potential technical issues the company may encounter. They assess the likelihood of these problems occurring and any impact they might have to understand the overall risk exposure and develop an appropriate set of remediation plans.

• Allocating resources to fix problems: Problem managers assemble teams to respond to problems, often looping in people from both business and technical disciplines. Problem managers are responsible for understanding the skill sets of subject-matter experts, assessing their workloads, and appropriately assigning problem-solving tasks to ensure efficient resource allocation. 

• Ensuring continuous improvement: Continuous improvement is an important goal of ITSM efforts. Problem management is the only ITIL process that provides specific tools for continuous improvement by identifying actual or potential failures and transforming these into opportunities for improvement.

What are the skills and qualifications of a problem manager? 

Problem managers need a diverse toolbox of skills, knowledge, experiences, and relationships to be successful. Key project management skills include:

Problem-solving skills

Critical thinking and root-cause analysis skills are the most important skill sets for problem managers. They must be able to step back, look at a problem logically, apply intuition, and know whom to engage to resolve the issue. They must also be able to handle ambiguity. Problems are not always clear, and red herrings may appear during the resolution process. Good problem-solvers can recognize these and carefully assess them before dedicating time to researching possible dead ends. 

Technical knowledge

Problem managers serve as translators between the business and IT. Thus, they must possess basic ITSM skills and have a good understanding of ITIL best practices. They should also understand, at a high level, the technical aspects of the problems they manage. This doesn’t mean they must be technical experts in every aspect of IT. It is more important to know where to access that information and who the subject matter experts are in each area of the business and the IT department. 

Business knowledge

The problem manager must have a good understanding of the business to assess and prioritize the work on problems. To effectively manage a problem queue, they must know the business’s goals and priorities, who the customers are, and how the business delivers value to those customers.

Data and statistical analysis experience

Good problem managers have analytical minds. They spend a considerable amount of effort understanding incidents, reviewing reports, and analyzing data to understand the cause and effect of different situations. They also need to be able to prioritize problems, which requires them to look at the cost of each outage, the disruption to the customer, and the effects on financial performance. Then they can weigh these statistics against the cost of providing a solution to the problem.

Risk management experience

Risk management is an important part of project management roles and responsibilities. Project managers must be able to quickly assess the risks of taking no action or implementing any number of possible solutions. Often, there is no perfect solution to a problem, and fixing one issue may cause another. Being able to determine which solution is the lesser of two evils is the mark of a good problem solver. 

Where do problem managers fit within an IT organization?

Problem management is a key process in the ITIL framework, so it isn’t surprising that most organizations place their problem managers within their IT service management organization. This gives them strong influence over service-management request processes. 

It also fosters deep collaboration with the incident and change management teams, with whom problem managers tend to work closely. In some ways, problem management acts as a liaison between these two related teams. Problem managers support incident management by preventing repeated incidents, using the change management process to do it.

However, problem managers don’t have to be placed within the IT organization. In companies where business functions play an active role in technology planning and prioritization, problem managers might work in those departments as well. This structure is helpful if the scope of problem-management activities includes process- supplier-, and people-related issues (not just technical problems). 

Regardless of which department the problem manager’s official home is, problem management roles and responsibilities require them to work with stakeholders throughout the entire organization. This way, they can leverage cross-departmental resources, knowledge, and skills to help diagnose problems.

Goals for the problem manager

A good ITIL problem manager will develop a wide breadth of skills, knowledge, and experience. It is tempting for organizations to assign problem managers to a variety of activities that don’t match their core job roles. To avoid this and to maximize value from the company’s problem-management investments, problem managers should be empowered to focus on pursuing three clear goals: 

• Preventing issue recurrence: The problem manager's top priority is stopping repeat incidents, even minor incidents. To be successful, they need the time and resources to understand why incidents are occurring, diagnose root causes, and identify long-term fixes and workarounds.

• Minimizing the business impact of incidents: Incidents can have a big impact on business productivity and profitability, but not all incidents can be prevented. For unavoidable problems, problem managers need to be looped in quickly so they can assess the root cause of the problem, work with the incident management team to address it, and determine how to avoid it going forward.

• Ensuring resources are aligned with the highest-value opportunities: Not all problems require action, and not all actions should be given the same priority and attention. In some situations, a good workaround may be a better solution than removing the root cause. A problem manager with good analytical skills will know the difference and can ensure the organization’s scarce resources are applied to the highest-value opportunities.

Challenges problem managers face 

What stands in the way of fulfilling project management roles and responsibilities?

• Lack of data and metrics: Siloed data and insufficient data-gathering tools mean problem managers don’t have the information they need to correctly identify problems.

• Lack of alignment: Successful problem management is closely aligned with business goals and expectations and with other ITSM processes. Without a clear vision from leadership and close collaboration with incident management teams, problem managers become reactive and less effective.

• Lack of leadership support: Problem managers are most effective when they can directly influence the decision-making process. They need executive support and the authority to make decisions.

• Lack of skills and resources: An ITIL problem manager is an important role, not just a job title. Problem managers need proper training and experience to develop the necessary skills. They also need time, budget, and the proper tools to identify, analyze, and eliminate problems.

Scaling the problem management function

Every business has tech problems, and thus every organization needs a problem manager. Not every organization can afford a full-time problem management team or even a dedicated individual. However, the role can be adapted to fit each business’s needs.

Depending on a company’s size and needs, the problem manager could be:

Part-time responsibility

Small businesses might not have the luxury of a dedicated problem manager, but it is still essential that one person be responsible for problem management. The job can be a part-time responsibility, and it could be almost anyone in the IT department.

There is one notable exception—the problem manager should not be responsible for incident management as well, because there is a conflict of interest. The incident manager is responsible for returning users to work as quickly as possible, while the problem manager must gather information to determine the root cause of the incident. If the same person performs both roles, they will spend all their time putting out fires and have no chance to focus on preventing them.

One person

Many medium-sized organizations choose to assign a single person as a problem manager. This can create challenges if multiple incidents require problem management at the same time. However, this arrangement can work if the problem manager has sufficient authority to ask for the assistance of subject-matter experts. 

The problem manager must also be able to delegate problems to team members in other parts of the organization. A problem manager is not there to solve the problems; their job is to delegate and manage the lifecycle of the problem.

Small team

The more problems an organization has, the more problem managers it needs. Larger organizations typically need a dedicated problem management team to share the workload of analysis and queue management. 

Team members should have the skills to facilitate brainstorming sessions. They also need good critical-thinking skills and the ability to lead emerging teams in problem-solving exercises.

Large, distributed problem management function

This is probably the most common, and most successful, means of structuring problem management in a medium to large enterprise. In this model, one problem manager leads a team of trained problem solvers and facilitators, who ideally represent both business and IT units.

By having a diverse group from different departments trained in problem-solving methodologies, the organization has a pool of people available during a crisis. These problem solvers oversee different parts of the problem queue, requesting other subject-matter experts as required.

How to become a problem manager

Problem management can be a lucrative and rewarding job, but it requires training, experience, and a variety of skills. A Zippia review of IT department resumes shows that most companies require problem managers to have:

• A bachelor's degree in business, computer science, or a related technical field

• At least 2 to 4 years of experience in problem management or related roles, such as a project manager, team leader, or incident manager

• Business, leadership, and analytical skills

On average, it takes 6 to 12 months of job training to become an ITIL problem manager. Getting a problem manager certification, such as the ITIL 4 Foundation Certificate, can help fast-track that training and give job candidates a leg up in the hiring process. 

Career growth opportunities for problem managers

Being an ITIL problem manager opens up a variety of potential career paths. It’s a big-picture job with a wide range of responsibilities and requires the development of a diverse skill set. Over time, project managers learn more about technology, ITSM best practices, and the businesses they work for. This experience can make someone highly promotable.

According to Zippia, “With experience and proven success, problem managers can progress to more senior roles or even executive-level positions, such as senior information technology manager or operations program manager.”

How to measure a problem manager's performance 

How do problem managers and their leaders know if they’re doing a good job? How can they tell if these individuals’ performance is improving over time? Key performance metrics include:

• Percentage of problems with an identified root cause: How many problems have been correctly diagnosed?

• Percentage of problems with a permanent solution or workaround: How many problems have been resolved, either by eliminating the problem or creating a documented workflow to address it?

• Proficiency in evaluating risks: How accurately does the problem manager identify the risks that problems pose for the organization?

• Proficiency in prioritizing fixes: Do business leaders feel the problem manager does a good job prioritizing problems based on business goals and needs?

• ROI of recommendations: Can the problem manager accurately calculate the return on investment for their work? Can they clearly articulate the benefits vs. the cost of each recommended resolution? 

• Cycle time: What is the average interval of time between when an incident is first reported and when a long-term fix is implemented?

The problem manager's toolkit

Problem management is a data-intensive function. The right technology can help problem managers efficiently gather and analyze this data, make more informed decisions, document and communicate potential workarounds, and allocate resources more effectively to achieve the best possible results.

Tools and software 

Problem managers require a variety of tech tools. These functions can be performed by different solutions, or (ideally) by a single robust ITSM tool with well-developed problem management software capabilities, including:

Data analysis and reporting tools

There is a huge variety of data analysis and reporting tools to help the problem manager assess the problem and incident queues, understand the impact on business operations, and justify investments in fix recommendations. Many of these tools are already in use throughout the organization. Problem managers should seek to leverage whatever data is available.

Statistical analysis tools

Statistical methods will be useful for analyzing both structured and unstructured information needed in problem management. Problem analysis is a complicated task, and a huge number of variables will impact the value of the gathered information.

Incident management system

Your incident-management system, which is likely part of your overall ITSM solution, will provide the most expansive dataset to support problem management. Artificial Intelligence capabilities available in many systems can provide further assistance to the problem manager to manage large volumes of incident data.

Configuration management database

An accurate CMDB is an essential tool for the problem manager. He or she must refer to the CMDB to understand dependencies and assess the risk of current problems and the potential impacts of any identified fixes. Root-cause-analysis processes that probe cause-and-effect relationships are often heavily dependent on data from the CMDB.

Monitoring

Automatic monitoring software will provide important information for the problem manager. Monitoring alerts from these systems can allow him or her to detect problems before they impact the business. This proactive side of problem management is more difficult to implement, but can enable proactive problem identification and mitigation.

Known-issue database

A problem with an identified cause is now a known error. A comprehensive database of known errors must be maintained, along with current workarounds that can be applied to return customers to their work when the issues are reported. Known-issue databases are often exposed to end users through self-service portals.

Automation and AI in problem management 

Leading ITSM solutions have built automation and AI capabilities into their platforms. For example, AI-enhanced monitoring solutions can detect hardware or software failures and automatically create tickets. This way, problem managers are alerted immediately about potential or recurring problems. AI can also make intelligent recommendations, deliver predictive analytics, and help problem managers find information quickly.

AI for ITSM is the future, helping problem managers become more efficient and effective than ever.

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