Challenging the IT Skeptic

OK, let's make one thing clear: I really like the IT Skeptic's site; unlike too much ITIL twaddle, he is making us all think harder. The world needs contrarians.

However, Mr. Skeptic, you've made a number of questionable assertions. My next few posts will be devoted to examining your arguments.

Let's start tonight with your critique of Dennis Drogseth. You unfavorably quote him:

"And now this, the last straw: from EMA, analysts who should know better."

"The point is the CMDB is not a 'thing', it's a landscape, it's a system," said Dennis Drogseth, VP of EMA. "So, the CMDB is exactly that political-cultural process of getting organizations to define a trusted source of information for a given environment and to share that info in a consistent way with parts of the organization." [ ITSM-Watch August 3, 2006 ]

"No it isn’t. Leave it alone. It’s a thing."

I disagree. The reification of "CMDB" as a thing is in fact one of the biggest problems in the ITIL landscape. As a "thing" it is unmanageable and impossible, a prematurely-defined technical solution to a poorly understood problem - exactly the point of many of your posts!

In fact, what is needed is an enterprise architecture for IT - one in which a specific CMDB may be central, but only as first among equals in an overall ecosystem of tools to manage the IT value chain.

More later.

-Charlie

Comments

[The IT Skeptic]

I think, as is common, the disconnect is a matter of defining terms. Let's distinguish between CMDB the object and Configuration Management the process. As you say, Charlie, many people do not. They reify (I like that word!) the object instead of the process.

Nevertheless the CMDB is the thing not the process ("in an overall ecosystem of tools"). I'm on a personal crusade to stop vendors and analysts redefining stuff that ITIL has clearly and formally defined for us.

[The IT Skeptic]

P.S. actually I also agree with you that Configuration Management is not really a process either, so I should have said "let's distinguish between CMDB the object and Configuration Management the function"