FROM CHAOS TO CLARITY: PFFMI

 

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN ITSM TECHNICAL WRITER

Introduction

Down the street and around the corner stands a building not unlike any other building, except in this building you'll find a familiar scene of phones ringing and help desk personnel answering calls. It’s a typical day, that is, until today. A year's worth of accomplishments needs to be compiled and presented to leadership by noon, transforming what would normally be a dreaded task into a focused effort within the TechWriter Zone.

The Grind of the Old Way

Situation

It's 8:30 AM. Maya, a seasoned technical writer in an ITSM organization, sips her coffee and opens her inbox. The annual accomplishments report is due in two weeks, and she’s been tasked with compiling it from dozens of trip reports, technical support summaries, and scattered project updates.

Challenge

The reports are inconsistent. Some are vague (“Improved ticket handling”), others are overly technical, and most lack measurable outcomes. Maya spends hours chasing down team leads for clarification:

·        “What was the actual impact of that workflow redesign?”

·        “Do we have metrics for the KB update?”

·        “Which services were affected by that outage?”

Frustration builds

She’s manually piecing together accomplishments, trying to reverse-engineer value from raw activity logs. The CMDB is underused, and dependencies between tasks and outcomes are unclear. She knows the teams did great work—but the story is buried in noise.

Enter CI-Driven PFFMI

Situation

Fast forward to 1:00 PM. Maya attends a training session on the new CI-Driven Problem Framing for Measurable Impact (PFFMI) framework. The organization has adopted a new approach: every problem is framed using measurable impact, and all resources—including KBs, workflows, and roles—are modeled as Configuration Items (CIs).

Transformation begins

·        Reports now follow a standardized template: Situation, Action, Result (SAR) format, linked CIs, predefined KPIs.

·        Each CI is mapped in the CMDB, showing dependencies and downstream effects.

·        Problems are no longer isolated—they’re systemic, traceable, and rich with context.

Maya opens a new report

Problem: SLA breach in incident resolution.

CI Impacted: KB-Article-LoginIssues, Tier2-Escalation-Flow, AppMonitor-v3.

Tasks: KB update, escalation redesign, alert tuning.

Outcome: MTTR reduced by 40%, SLA compliance improved to 95%, CSAT up 18%.

She smiles. The accomplishment statement practically writes itself.

Clarity, Confidence, and Strategic Value

Situation

It’s 5:00 PM. Maya wraps up her draft of the annual accomplishments report. This time, it’s not a patchwork—it’s a cohesive, data-driven narrative of how the organization delivered value.

Results:

·        Every accomplishment is tied to a CI and a measurable outcome.

·        The report highlights cross-functional collaboration and systemic improvements.

·        Leadership is thrilled: the report reads like a strategic roadmap, not a checklist.

Maya reflects

What used to take weeks now takes days. She’s not just documenting activity—she’s telling the story of transformation, impact, and excellence.

Takeaway

The shift to CI-Driven PFFMI didn’t just streamline reporting—it empowered Maya to elevate her role from documenter to storyteller, from compiler to strategist. And it gave the organization a clear, credible way to showcase its accomplishments.

About the Author

Daryl Horton is a technical and creative writer who is passionate about being creative. He has comprehensive training in business information management, information systems management, and creative and technical writing. Daryl has the knowledge and skills to help organizations optimize their performance and maximize their potential. He spent several years in a Knowledge Management PhD program at Walden University, nearly completing it, but resigned from the program during his dissertation phase to pursue his passion for creativity (http://www.abolitic.com/). Despite his love for creativity, he often finds himself participating in groups where his technical experiences add value.

You can find more information about Daryl Horton on his LinkedIn page at https://www.linkedin.com/in/darylhorton/.