It's the Great Problem (management), Charlie Brown!

Well folks, it's October! Which means Halloween is right around the corner!

As this was one of my most favorite holidays as a kid (my parents let me dress up as a vampire when I was like 4, I looked in the mirror, scared myself, and ran out of the room in terror — yes, writing is cheaper than therapy), I felt that it was my duty — nay, privilege — to bring you a series of spooky, movie-themed Halloween articles that will keep your…incidents…from going bump in the night!

If you are like me, you love all the Charlie Brown holiday specials. I loved them when I was a kid and still love them today, and they are a staple in my household when each holiday rolls around.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! always stood out to me as capturing the fun and excitement of Halloween — from picking your Halloween costume, to trick-or-treating (unless you are Charlie Brown, receiving a bag of rocks for your trouble), to Linus's simple faith that something amazing was going to happen (the pumpkin version of Santa Claus?).

Let's take a quick look at It's the Great Problem (Management), Charlie Brown! and see what lessons we can learn about not waiting for the problem to appear…

Every Halloween, Linus sits in the pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin — er, problem — a giant, Santa-like pumpkin that never shows up, and drags his friend Sally along with him instead of trick-or-treating. Meanwhile, Charlie Brown goes trick-or-treating, full of hope, and comes home with nothing but rocks.

Sound familiar? That’s how many organizations treat Problem Management — waiting for some big “Great Problem” moment that will magically reveal the root cause, instead of digging in and doing the unglamorous detective work.

The truth is, the Great Pumpkin never arrives, Sally reads Linus the riot act for making her miss trick-or-treating — and neither does the perfect, self-solving problem, which can create real problems for your users. Real Problem Management takes analysis, pattern recognition, and a willingness to connect the dots when nobody else is looking.

Best Practices:
🎃 Use trend analysis to spot recurring incidents early.
🎃 Build a Known Error Database (KEDB) to document lessons learned.
🎃 Tie problems to change records for traceability and closure.

The real treat isn’t waiting for the perfect answer — it’s finding small wins that prevent the next batch of “rocks” from landing in your users’ candy bags. Problem Management helps you go from being reactive and relying on workarounds to being proactive and solving problems for good!

Don't Miss Out on Trick-or-Treating:
Don’t wait in the pumpkin patch this release cycle. Grab your data, chase the clues, and go find your Great Pumpkin — before Sally throws another fit!