What a Broken Espresso Machine Taught Me About IT Incident Management

Last Tuesday, something unexpected happened at my neighborhood coffee shop during the busiest time of the morning. The espresso machine broke down.

But instead of descending into chaos, I watched a flawless display of incident management unfold—one that many IT departments could learn a thing or two from.

The barista calmly switched to manual brewing. The manager swiftly called for repairs. And within minutes, they posted updates on social media explaining the issue and offering free pastries to customers for the inconvenience. No blame. No panic. Just a smooth, well-practiced response.

It made me wonder: if a coffee shop can manage an incident with such finesse, why do so many IT teams still fall apart under pressure?

Why Most IT Incident Management Feels Like a Fire Drill

For many organizations, incident management isn’t a priority—until something breaks. That’s when the scramble begins. Everyone suddenly becomes a critic, blame gets passed around, and help desks are flooded with frustrated users demanding answers.

The real issue? It’s not a lack of technical skill. IT professionals are often brilliant problem solvers. What’s missing is a structured approach that includes more than just fixing things—like clear communication, user reassurance, and continuity planning.

Without a strong IT Service Management (ITSM) framework, incidents are handled by individual effort instead of a coordinated team strategy.

Incident Response Is More About People Than Technology

Here’s what many overlook: effective incident management is as much about managing emotions as it is about fixing systems.

When things go wrong, everyone—from users to executives to IT staff—feels stress. Users worry about deadlines, managers worry about business impact, and IT staff face immense pressure to restore services quickly.

That’s why good ITSM processes prioritize psychological safety and communication. Keeping people calm and informed is half the battle—and it’s often the part that gets ignored.

Communication Is Your Most Powerful Tool

That coffee shop incident taught me something invaluable: proactive communication makes all the difference.

Rather than leaving customers confused or annoyed, they communicated early and honestly—what went wrong, what was being done, and how long it might take. That transparency kept everyone calm.

Compare that to the average IT incident response: complete silence until the issue is resolved, leaving users in the dark and imagining the worst. This lack of communication often causes more damage to trust than the outage itself.

Transparency Builds Trust—Even When Things Go Wrong

The best IT teams build trust through openness. Regular status updates, even if there’s no new information, show users that someone is actively working on the problem.

Bad news is easier to handle than uncertainty. When stakeholders know what’s happening, they’re more likely to remain patient and supportive.

Treat Incidents Like Customer Service Moments

The most forward-thinking organizations see incident management not just as a technical process, but as a form of customer service.

Every incident is a chance to prove your team’s capability, integrity, and focus on user experience. When handled well, even a service outage becomes an opportunity to strengthen relationships and reinforce your organization’s reputation.

Final Thoughts

Good incident management isn’t just about how fast you fix things—it’s about how you manage the people affected by the problem.

So, the next time systems go down, take a lesson from the coffee shop: act quickly, communicate clearly, and turn disruption into trust.

Because at the end of the day, great ITSM isn’t just about solving problems—it’s about showing leadership when it matters most.