Issue and Problem: Don't Just Fix What's Happening

One day, a user raises a complain: “I submitted the request, but my manager didn't receive approval.”

Support team checks and finds the workflow is stuck. Developers rerun the workflow, and manager receives approval.

Done?

That request was done. This was an issue, and the team resolved it.

 

But the following week, another user encounters the exact same problem. Then, a few weeks later, another case arises.

 

Team investigates further and discovers the cause: when the user's Manager information changes, the data isn't synced in time. The workflow can't find the correct approver and gets stuck.

 

This is the real problem.

What	An incident is occurring.	The cause of the incident
Example	The manager did not receive approval.	The workflow retrieves incorrect/outdated approver information.
Handle	Run the workflow again to continue the request.	Modify the workflow for identifying approvers.
Target	Restoring operations	Prevent the issue from recurring.
Question	How can we handle this immediately?	Why did it happen?

  

The key point is:

• Fixing an issue allows a request to continue running.
• Solving a problem prevents hundreds of subsequent requests from encountering the same error.

The same applies to project or product management. If the same type of issue keeps recurring and the team keeps closing tickets over and over again, we're not truly solving the problem. We're just effectively putting out fires.