Incident Management is typically the first stop in most people’s ITSM journey. So, if that’s the case, then why can it go so wrong, particularly in the case of a Major Incident?

I recently read an article on a failed Major Incident Response. A ‘very stable’ system fell over for the first time in years, long after the people who implemented it had hung up their cables.

Guess what happened?

• MI Bridge chaos
• Every SME is talking at the same time
• Mini solutions appearing with no coordination
• Documentation? What documentation?

So here’s your cheat sheet.

DO:

• Get the right people (not everyone)
• Have a single leader
• Document everything as you go, even if rough notes
• Focus on restoration first
• Keep communications clear, brief and relevant

DON’T:

• Start finger-pointing
• Chase the root cause during the fire
• Let non-essential management hijack the call
• Forget stakeholder communications
• Throw everything at it without a plan
• Try multiple resolutions at once, obscuring the fix

When you are weathering a storm, have a single Captain steering the ship.