Do we need full ITIL adoption to fix this?

No. The relevant ITIL practices — single owner, documented severity, defined escalation — can be adopted independently of full ITIL implementation. The point is the pattern, not the certification.

Is severity interpretation really a common problem?

Yes. Without a shared definition of severity (typically impact × urgency, per ITIL), different teams will assign different priorities to the same issue based on their own perspective. The result is that the same issue can sit at the bottom of one team's queue while being treated as critical by another.

What is the cheapest first step?

Define and publish a one-page severity model with shared definitions and named escalation owners per severity level. That alone closes most of the variance before any tooling change.

Why Issue Resolution Stalls When Ownership is Unclear

An insight on why issue resolution stalls when ownership is unclear from CodeCraft Enterprise.