Remove impediments and manage issues

PMP ECO · Business Environment (26%) · Task B4. Track the problems happening now, clear the blockers stopping the team, and drive each to resolution.

What it is

An issue is a problem happening now — distinct from a risk, which is a potential future problem. (When a risk occurs, it becomes an issue.) The task is to log issues, categorise and prioritise them, assign an owner, and drive them to closure — and, as a servant leader, to actively remove impediments blocking the team.

Why it matters

• Issues left unowned drift; a tracked issue log with owners and priorities is how a team stops re-discovering the same blocker in every stand-up.
• Removing impediments is a core servant-leadership duty — the fastest way a PM adds value is by clearing the path in front of the team.

Where you do it in VanillaPM

The Issues log records each issue with a category, priority, status, and owner, and supports risk → issue escalation — when a monitored risk materialises, it becomes a tracked issue rather than a surprise.

Walked example — Coral Ridge Resort

Two Coral Ridge risks become issues mid-build: the ECA clearance delay materialises (a monitored risk → now an active issue blocking site works), and the imported lifts get held at customs. Each is logged, prioritised (the clearance is critical — it gates the whole site), owned, and worked: the PM removes the clearance impediment by escalating through the governance path (B1) with the environmental consultant; the customs hold is worked with the freight forwarder. The issue log shows the live blocker list the daily huddle works from.

The artefact

• Issue log — category · priority · status · owner, fed by risk-to-issue escalation.

Best practices & pitfalls

• Do keep the issue ≠ risk line clear: risk is future/probabilistic, issue is here/now.
• Do assign a single owner and a due date to every issue — an unowned issue doesn't move.
• Pitfall: letting the issue log become a graveyard; review and close it in the team cadence.

On the PMP exam

Know issue vs risk cold, and that the PM's servant-leadership job includes removing impediments. Expect the issue log as the right artefact, and answers where the PM acts to clear a blocker (directly or by escalating through governance) rather than logging it and moving on. "RAID" (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies) may appear.