Problem
A cause, or potential cause, of one or more incidents. Problem management is the process of identifying and managing the root causes of incidents.
Impact
Incident Management fights the fire; Problem Management identifies the arsonist. Without Problem Management, you are doomed to repeat the same failures.
Weinto take
We practice Root Cause Analysis (RCA) using the "5 Whys" technique. But we stop looking for "The" root cause (singular) because complex systems have multiple contributing factors. We look for Contributing Factors and systemic weaknesses.