The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win 5th Anniversary Edition

First of all, I loved the book! With The Phoenix Project, Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford has written one of the most thought-provoking IT books I've read in recent years. The Phoenix Project is actually a novelization of DevOps principles rather than a strict how-to book on transforming IT Operations. It is written in the tradition of IT Novels such as the Stealing The Network series, which I read voraciously when I was learning about Information Security. I find the idea of using the genre of fiction to teach IT theory to be extremely effective, especially the concepts of DevOps, which are foreign to so many who are in the "traditional" IT space. The Phoenix Project provides a vivid use case that describes the dysfunctional relationship which exists, not only between traditional IT and the Lines of Business, but between different groups within IT itself. But not only does the book describe the problem, it offer a path to follow in order to transform IT into a true partner to the Business. The protagonist in The Phoenix Project is Bill Palmer, newly promoted to VP of IT Operations for Parts Unlimited, a leading automotive parts manufacturer and retailer. The problem is that Palmer has been promoted because his managers were fired due to the failures of the IT department, particularly in completing a software initiative, called The Phoenix Project. This Phoenix Project is a software suite, developed in-house, designed to integrate manufacturing and retail while allowing Parts Unlimited to be more agile and nimble in accommodating to changes in market conditions. The project is intended to save the company, which has missed earning consistently and has fallen behind its main competitor; unfortunately, the project is millions of dollars over-budget and years late in delivery. Palmer is thrown on to the proverbial sinking ship and quickly caught up in one emergency after another and soon realizes that unless something quickly changes, The Phoenix Project is doomed to failure and along with it, Parts Unlimited. However, Palmer finds himself ill-equipped to understand and to implement the necessary changes to right the ship, especially when there is so much distrust and infighting within the IT organization and with the Lines of Business. Then Palmer meets the enigmatic Erik Reid, a potential board member with some very unusual ideas for how to run IT Operations. Palmer is understandably skeptical but is soon drawn in as Reid takes him down the rabbit hole; through a series of encounters and events, Reid enlightens Palmer as to what is the true mission of IT and what must be done to make IT work as a partner to the Business. The truths that are discovered not only change Palmer but the entire culture of IT at Parts Unlimited. I had two different reactions as I was reading The Phoenix Project. The first half of the book often made me reflexively reach for the Maalox as I found myself standing in Palmer's shoes, reliving outages caused by buggy code and miscommunication between IT departments. The second half of the book reads like the script from The Karate Kid, as we see Erik Reid, Aka. Mr. Miyagi, guide Bill Palmer, Aka. young Daniel, down the path to enlightenment about not only the methodology of DevOps but the cultural shift that is required for change. Sometimes the lessons involve seeing tasks that seem to have little value to sound IT Operations, but Reid is able to masterfully walk Palmer through the process until he sees the proper connections between Manufacturing Plant operations and IT Operations. That relationship between Manufacturing Plants and IT was, for me, the key insight provided by the book. As Erik Reid succinctly states to Bill Palmer, "If you think IT Operations has nothing to learn from Plant Operations, you're wrong. Dead wrong. Your job as VP of IT Operations is to ensure the fast, predictable, and uninterrupted flow of planned work that delivers value to the business while minimizing the impact and disruption of unplanned work, so you can provide stable, predictable, and secure IT service." This is one of the best definition of IT Operations and also one of the most insightful statements on resource management that I've read to date. After all, what can be more basic to resource management, rather it be a data center, software development team, Cloud, or people, than ensuring they deliver value through the completion of planned work? Yet I would argue that because this is not the ultimate goal of many IT shops, they are easily sidetracked by the urgent and prevented from doing what is important. The rest of the book shows how Palmer, with help from Reid, is able to inculcate a new culture in the IT department at Parts Unlimited so they can focus on the mission of saving the company by enabling the business of the company. Along the way, they learn about the four categories of work (business projects, internal IT projects, changes, and unplanned work), the Three ways, and the importance of Kanban. Each new discovery by Palmer and team is a call to action for IT departments that know they cannot maintain the status quo and must transform themselves to meet the demands of the current business environment. I look forward to learning more and applying the principles from books such as the Phoenix Project. Now if only I could find a portable version of a Kanban Board!

I had the pleasure of meeting Gene Kim in October of 2011 at the Security B-Sides conference in Portland, OR. He had just presented on the concept for his novel, and I was immediately intrigued. It seemed like he intended to bring the concept of the business parable to IT management. I joked it looked like a Who Moved My Cheese? for the ITIL crowd. In speaking with Gene following his presentation, I thanked him in person for The Visible Ops Handbook: Implementing ITIL in 4 Practical and Auditable Steps (which I maintain is still the best $20 I ever spent). Through our conversation, he flagged me as the type of "boundary spanner" who would benefit from a more thorough reading of his new effort, and he nailed that assessment. I didn't want to put it down. The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win reads like a techo-thriller. I found it very engaging and definitely wanted to read the whole thing all in one sprint. I hadn't found myself that thoroughly engrossed in a read in quite some time. The cast is spot-on. Each is clearly meant to represent a specific organizational perspective or archetype. If you aren't one of these characters, you at least know someone who is. A few may seem a little exaggerated or caricatured, but that is more from a sense of literary license and less in any manner to offend. The roles are readily identifiable and it is easy to see oneself as any member of the cast. If this causes the reader any discomfort, one should perhaps take the hint. As I joined Bill Palmer, the story's main protagonist, on his odyssey as he deals with "late projects, chronic outages, massive audit findings and the imminent threat of outsourcing" and - having lived that adventure myself - I thought, "Been there. Done that." It is well known that projects, and corresponding confidence in IT, fail in predictable and repeatable ways. So, it is both disheartening and reassuring to see us doing things so perfectly wrong. Even more important is the illumination of a clear path out of that death spiral of angst and despair. Also of considerable use is the extensive bibliography of business literature from which Gene & co. have drawn. The reader is introduced to key concepts, from the Theory of Constraints outlined in Eli Goldratt's parable, The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement , to the agile management techniques of David J. Anderson's Kanban and the leadership and team-building dynamics found in Patrick Lencioni's The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable without being hit over the head. The story informs, educates and provides a jumping-off point for those seeking additional knowledge in the fields of Lean IT and Agile Management. I believe The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win is already sold to my colleagues working in or managing IT operations. It will also be of interest to those IT professionals who are inclined to think outside of their silos and concern themselves with bigger picture issues relevant to the entire business. I see this becoming mandatory reading for executive staff and other enterprise stakeholders being enabled or constrained by their own IT processes. I will certainly attempt to influence that outcome in my own organization.

Great book, very pleasant to read but also full of interesting cases.

Highly recommend this book for anyone who has any dealings with IT, whether you are a business person, manager or IT professional. Easy to read and understand the concepts since the entire book is an example of implementing DevOps within IT. And the cover is beautiful!

If you work in IT (heck, even if your business has any IT - so that's all of you), then you should read this book. Regardless of your specific role, I'm certain that you'll learn something useful (and more importantly, actionable). I've changed my approach to doing a few things already based on lessons I've taken from the book and I still need to process some more ideas around how to do stuff better. I expect that I'll be reading it at least one more time through so that I don't miss anything that I could make use of. One month ago, I'd never heard about this book. Of all the interesting and useful things that I took away from the Microsoft Global MVP Summit this November, I suspect that this will have the greatest impact. Fellow PowerShell MVP Steven Murawski often talks about DevOps and recommends this book in his presentations. He's such a fan of the book that he brought a bunch of copies to give out and I was very glad to receive one after hearing him extol its virtues. Having read the first few chapters on the flight back from Seattle, on landing I purchased the Kindle edition from Amazon UK so that I could carry it around on my Kindle and phone in order to reduce the barriers to being able to consume it! Personally, I love the approach that this book takes. By encompassing so much useful information about ITSM, DevOps methodologies and much more in a novel with an engaging storyline, I was able to read it much more easily and quickly that many of the dry technical texts that bog down our industry. I think that it also helped me to digest the information and apply it to my work situation more easily, even though I work in a significantly different type of organisation to that in the story. The bottom line is that this isn't just a good book, it's an important book. You should read it at the first available opportunity. We'll all be the better for it.

O livro conta a história do departamento de TI de uma empresa americana. Como o departamento sai do caos total para um fluxo orquestrado, alinhado e entregando valor ao negócio da empresa, que nada tem a ver com TI. É interessante ver que apesar de tratar de uma empresa privada americana, o setor de TI retratado se assemelha a muitos setores de TI do Brasil, incluindo de órgãos públicos. Em fim. O livro é muito bom. Por se tratar de uma história de ficção com personagens interessantes a leitura flui muito bem. A fluidez da leitura é semelhante ao do livro "A meta", que eu também recomendo. Não é um livro que vai te dar detalhes de como resolver os problemas da TI. Muita das soluções adotadas no livro não são tão simples de serem adotadas na vida real. Mas mesmo assim o livro enche o leitor de motivação para ajudar no desafio de promover mudanças em seu local de trabalho!

The characters are archetypical and relatable. The pace is thrilling, the story unfolds with the learning process of individuals and the organization. It delivers the spirit of DevOps in a way which is respectful and even intimate for IT professionals. I recommend this book for every IT professional, IT manager and other managers on top or depending on IT. I spared one star because, as a roman – as literature, it is not worth much. Very basic language, silly soap opera situations, not philosophical, not poetic, not psychological, not theatrical. It is a management book written as a story which is accessible for a broad public.