What exactly does an Incident Manager do? In simple terms, they help keep organisations running smoothly when something goes wrong. But the role is far more than troubleshooting. An Incident Manager stands at the intersection of technology, communication, and decision-making, ensuring that issues are resolved quickly, collaboratively, and with the least possible impact on users and clients.

In this article, we explore the work of Katarzyna Marszałek, Incident Manager at Prime Engineering Poland. We dive into her experience, her approach to critical situations, and the mindset that guides her every day. At Prime Engineering Poland, and across our teams worldwide, we celebrate the knowledge, the curiosity, and the resilience of the specialists who support the success of our projects.

A Day Built on Clarity and Coordination

For Katarzyna, incident management begins early… and with a cup of coffee. Her day starts with reviewing and analysing new incidents through ITSM (IT Service Management) tools, identifying priorities, filling in missing details, and assigning tasks to the right teams.

She collaborates constantly with users, vendors, developers, and customers. Once an issue is resolved, she prepares a root cause analysis to prevent recurrence. In the case of major or global incidents, she actively joins war room and CAB (Change Advisory Board) meetings, coordinating efforts and ensuring that solutions are aligned with SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

Her work follows ITIL and Agile principles, but it also depends on something no framework can replace: judgement.

Why Incident Management? A Combination of Logic and Empathy

Katarzyna chose this field because it allows her to merge technical knowledge with empathetic communication, a rare combination that defines excellent incident managers. She values the tangible impact of her work: “I’m very motivated by the fact that what I do makes life easier for users and customers. Each case requires flexibility, analysis and cooperation between different teams. It is fast-paced work, but it provides visible results, and that is what makes it so rewarding.”

Calm Under Pressure

Katarzyna’s calm, structured approach shapes every step she takes, even in the most chaotic moments. Critical systems, ticking clocks, demanding stakeholders: incident management often unfolds in high-pressure environments. Katarzyna handles these moments with structure and adaptability.

She follows proven procedures to maintain transparency, but she adjusts her actions as circumstances change. During incidents, she focuses on tasks, supports colleagues, and ensures communication remains clear and up to date: both for technical teams and business stakeholders.

Her rule is simple: incidents are always a team effort. “Active listening and empathy are particularly important to me, especially in stressful situations. I handle all incidents as a team effort, which helps maintain clear communication and manage stress levels.”

The Skills That Set Incident Managers Apart

According to Katarzyna, successful incident management relies on two pillars: technical expertise and communication.

From understanding networks and cloud infrastructure to reading system architectures, technical skills enable fast diagnosis and effective collaboration with engineering teams.

But competence alone isn’t enough. Incident managers must make quick and confident decisions to help prevent issues from escalating. Katarzyna stresses that “empathy and transparency in communication are key to maintaining trust during critical incidents – clear communication with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.”

Learning From the Difficult Moments

While confidentiality prevents her from sharing specific examples, Katarzyna explains that complex and challenging incidents are part of the role. These often involve multiple clients, critical systems, and the need for fast coordination.

What she has learned from such moments is consistent: Stay calm. Communicate clearly. Mobilise the right people quickly. Every incident becomes a source of learning: helping refine processes and strengthen operations.

Preventing tomorrow’s problems

For Katarzyna, prevention begins with full ownership: from assignment and data input to resolution, closure, and post-incident analysis.

She promotes transparent communication with stakeholders and focuses on regular preventive measures, cross-team knowledge sharing, and thoughtful protocol improvement. Automation plays an important role too, helping eliminate recurring issues and building long-term operational resilience.

The future: faster detection, smarter decisions

As automation, AI, and cloud-based systems continue to evolve, Katarzyna sees the role of Incident Manager transforming with them.

AI accelerates detection and resolution, while also helping predict future risks. Managing service dependencies, cloud environments, and automated workflows is becoming increasingly central to the job.

Yet even with these advancements, one thing remains irreplaceable: the human ability to communicate clearly, coordinate under pressure, and bring teams together. “Humans still play an important role in crisis communication and cross-functional coordination.”

Keeping organisations moving

“Incident management is now more than just troubleshooting.”, Katarzyna tells us. It’s about keeping businesses running confidently in an unpredictable digital world.

Katarzyna Marszałek’s work at Prime Engineering Poland exemplifies this commitment. With precision, empathy, and collaboration, she ensures that every incident becomes an opportunity to strengthen systems and improve the way teams work together.