CM2 Is Not Just About Documentation.

July 8, 2025

Martijn Dullaart

Community Voice

When someone mentioned ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ด๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ (CM), our minds probably went straight to mountains of paperwork, endless checklists, and the meticulous act of documenting every single change. And yes, good (clear, concise, and valid) documentation is absolutely crucial, itโ€™s foundational! But if we stop there, especially with something as powerful as CM2, weโ€™re missing the entire point.

This is the point: CM2 isnโ€™t just about recording โ€œwhat changed.โ€ Itโ€™s a proactive heartbeat for your entire organization and product lifecycle. Itโ€™s about building a living system that keeps everything clear, controlled, and consistent, even when things get super complex. Not just for product baselines, but also for your organizationโ€™s baselines. Think of it as the framework that lets you move fast without breaking things.

Consider these points:
๐Ÿพ ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐——๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป. CM2 digs deeper. It sets up solid baselines, handles any unexpected twists, and creates a clear trail from every single idea right through to its finished product.

ย ๐ŸŽฏ ๐—๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฝ ๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜€. CM2 bakes in robust change processes, helps you really understand the ripple effect of any alteration, and adds verification steps. Weโ€™re talking about catching issues before they become a headache, not just writing them down afterward.

ย ๐Ÿ”„ ๐—–๐— ๐Ÿฎ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ. CM2 gives organizations the confidence to embrace change head-on. It focuses on identifying all configuration-relevant information elements, the relationships between them, and the owners of the information elements. You know that every change is understood, approved, and correctly put into action across all your teams. Itโ€™s the secret sauce that lets innovation flourish while keeping everything stable and sound. Even when you move from classic documents to models, CM2 can accommodate.

Iโ€™ve had the privilege of seeing companies truly transform when they embrace CM2 not as a bureaucratic burden, but as a genuine strategic superpower. It shifts you from simply tracking changes to actually orchestrating them โ€“ empowering your teams and protecting your valuable assets.

So, for this installment of โ€œHow do YOU CM2?โ€, I want to throw out a challenge:

๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™™๐™ค ๐™”๐™Š๐™ ๐™ข๐™–๐™ ๐™š ๐™จ๐™ช๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐˜พ๐™ˆ2 ๐™œ๐™ค๐™š๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฎ ๐™—๐™š๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™™๐™ค๐™˜๐™ช๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ? ๐™’๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™˜๐™ก๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง, ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ฅ๐™จ ๐™™๐™ค ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฃ ๐˜พ๐™ˆ2 ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™– ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ก ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™–๐™œ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™š๐™ญ๐™˜๐™š๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ ๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™–๐™˜๐™š?

Ready to go deeper?

Use code Martijn10 for 10% off trainingโ€”and donโ€™t forget to tell them Martijn sent you ๐Ÿ˜‰.

Copyrights by the Institute for Process Excellence

This article was originally published on ipxhq.com & mdux.net.

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About the Author

Known by his blog moniker MDUXโ€”Martijn is a leading voice in enterprise configuration management and product lifecycle strategy. With over two decades of experience, he blends technical depth with practical insight, championing CM2 principles to drive operational excellence across industries. Through his blog MDUX:The Future of CM, his newsletter, and contributions to platforms like IpX, Martijn has cultivated a vibrant community of professionals by demystifying complex topics like baselines, scalability, and traceability. His writing is known for its clarity, relevance, and ability to spark meaningful dialogue around the evolving role of configuration management in Industry 4.0.

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