I want to know, the differences between issues, problems, and matters Saving Changes...
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Phil TriceDevelopment Manager, Billing & Network Applications| BatelcoManama, Bahrain
I would say they belong to a hierarchy and the essence of each, within the context of projects, is:
An Issue is anything that has arisen that needs tracking. It may not be a problem as such (as in it may not need a problem solving approach to resolve it) but very often it will be.
A Problem is an Issue that needs people to think about it, analyse it and come up with a solution to that problem.
A Matter is absolutely anything related to the project.
So all Problems are Issues and all Issues are Matters but neither is true in reverse.
E.g.
1) Paying an invoice is a Matter but not an Issue or Problem.
2) A supplier may indicate that they will be 1 week late on a component delivery. That is certainly an Issue (and a Matter) and will need action to ensure any penalties are correctly imposed and payments adjusted but it is not a problem unless it has any knock on impacts to other deadlines.
3) If that same supplier is late a further week and now it impacts on other deliverables then it has become a Problem as well as an Issue and a Matter. Saving Changes...
An issue is a factor that might cause you some annoyance.
A problem can impact people and situations around you, even if they are not directly related to the problem.
For instance, forgetting your lunch is an issue, but losing your job is a problem
