Last week I said most companies don’t have a CMDB problem.
They have a thinking problem.
A few people asked: „OK, but where do you actually start?”
Here’s what I’ve learned after doing this for 25 years.
Most teams start with Discovery. Run the scanner. Populate the CMDB. Feel productive.
Wrong starting point.
Before you touch a single CI, you need to answer 3 questions:
1. What is a „service” in your organization?
Not the IT definition. The business definition. If your CIO and your Service Desk manager give different answers — stop. Fix that first.
2. Who owns it? Not the system. The service.
No owner = no governance = CMDB becomes a graveyard in 18 months.
3. What does „good” look like?
If you can’t define done, you’ll never be done. I’ve seen CMDB projects run for 3 years with no finish line.
CSDM gives you the structure to answer these questions — before you go near the platform. That’s the shift. From tool-first to model-first.
It sounds obvious. It almost never happens. I work with enterprises to get this right from the start — or fix it when it’s gone wrong.
DM me or connect — happy to have a no-pressure conversation.