The Milky Way, especially the outskirts of its stellar distribution, presents itself as a unique testbed for predictions on the smallest scales of the hierarchical, dark matter dominated cosmogony. A wealth of 'sub-structure', be they vast numbers of small satellites or tidal streams from disrupted and merged objects, is expected. SDSS and other surveys have provided a vastly improved data for detailed mapping of the Milky Way's stellar distriution. It is now possible to move from qualitative to quantitative comparison with cosmological formation models. Among the results, I'll discuss to which extent you should consider the 'missing satellite' problem to be resolved.