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The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win Hardcover – January 10, 2013
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The company's new IT initiative, code named Phoenix Project, is critical to the future of Parts Unlimited, but the project is massively over budget and very late. The CEO wants Bill to report directly to him and fix the mess in ninety days or else Bill's entire department will be outsourced.
With the help of a prospective board member and his mysterious philosophy of The Three Ways, Bill starts to see that IT work has more in common with manufacturing plant work than he ever imagined. With the clock ticking, Bill must organize work flow streamline interdepartmental communications, and effectively serve the other business functions at Parts Unlimited.
In a fast-paced and entertaining style, three luminaries of the DevOps movement deliver a story that anyone who works in IT will recognize. Readers will not only learn how to improve their own IT organizations, they'll never view IT the same way again.
- Print length345 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherIT Revolution Press
- Publication dateJanuary 10, 2013
- Dimensions7 x 1.25 x 9.75 inches
- ISBN-100988262592
- ISBN-13978-0988262591
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Get to know this book
What's it about?
A struggling IT manager must rescue a critical project by adopting lean manufacturing principles to streamline operations within 90 days or face outsourcing.Popular highlight
“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.”7,346 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
“every work center is made up of four things: the machine, the man, the method, and the measures.6,313 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
Any improvement made after the bottleneck is useless, because it will always remain starved, waiting for work from the bottleneck. And any improvements made before the bottleneck merely results in more inventory piling up at the bottleneck.”6,070 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
“Remember, outcomes are what matter—not the process, not controls, or, for that matter, what work you complete.”5,080 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
‘Improving daily work is even more important than doing daily work.’ The Third Way is all about ensuring that we’re continually putting tension into the system, so that we’re continually reinforcing habits and improving something. Resilience engineering tells us that we should routinely inject faults into the system, doing them frequently, to make them less painful.4,737 Kindle readers highlighted this
Editorial Reviews
Review
"This book is a gripping read that captures brilliantly the dilemmas that face companies which depend on IT, and offers real-world solutions. As Deming reminds us, 'It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.' The Phoenix Project will have a profound effect on IT, just as Dr. Goldratt's book The Goal did for manufacturing." -- Jez Humble, co-author of the Jolt award-winning book Continuous Delivery and Principal at ThoughtWorks Studios
"This book is the modern day version of The Goal. Today, our constraints aren't robots inside our factories, but it's how we manage technologies like Tomcat and Java that power our most critical projects and applications. This book continues the journey that began with Shewhart, Deming, Ohno and Dr. Goldratt, and shows us how to diminish our modern constraints to help the business win." -- John Willis, VP Client Services and Enablement, enStratus, Host of "DevOps Cafe"
"This is the IT swamp draining manual for anyone who is neck deep in alligators." -- Adrian Cockcroft, Cloud Architect at Netflix
"This is the most amazing IT book I have ever read. Though it follows a fictitious company, the events are so real life that anyone in industry is going to relate to the story. Buy this book, read this book and then hand it to a senior manager in your organization." -- Stephen Northcutt, Fellow and President, SANS Technology Institute
"This insightful walk through the pain and success of business will trigger deja vu for anyone who has ever run afoul of their complete reliance in their IT organization. I see my own experiences in every stage of the story." -- Dr. Thomas Longstaff, Program Chair, Computer Science, Engineering for Professionals, The Johns Hopkins University
About the Author
Gene Kim is a multi-award winning CTO, researcher, and author. He is the founder of Tripwire and served as CTO for thirteen years. His books include The Phoenix Project, The DevOps Handbook, The Visible Ops Handbook, and Visible Ops Security.
Kevin Behr is the founder of the Information Technology Process Institute (ITPI) and the general manager and chief science officer of Praxis Flow LLC. Kevin has 25 years of IT management experience and is a mentor and advisor to CEOs and CIOs. He is the co-author of The Phoenix Projectand The Visible Ops Handbook.
George Spafford is a research director for Gartner, covering DevOps, technical change, and release management, in addition to the use of bimodal IT and the pace-layered application strategy. His publications include hundreds of articles and numerous books on IT service improvement, as well as co-authorship of The Phoenix Project,The Visible Ops Handbook, and Visible Ops Security.
Product details
- Publisher : IT Revolution Press; First Edition (January 10, 2013)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 345 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0988262592
- ISBN-13 : 978-0988262591
- Item Weight : 1.38 pounds
- Dimensions : 7 x 1.25 x 9.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #213,592 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #109 in Production & Operations
- #153 in Computers & Technology Industry
- #1,736 in Business Management (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Kevin Behr is the founder of the Information Technology Process Institute (ITPI) and the Chief Strategist for the CIO and Board Advisory Practice at Assemblage Pointe, where Kevin has built a unique consulting practice that mentors and coaches IT organizations to increase their business effectiveness and competitive advantage now and over the long term through the application of improvement sciences..
As a trusted mentor and advisor to chief executive officers and chief information officers around the world, Kevin blends his 25 years of IT management experience with his skills as a communicator, collaborator and synthesist to deliver powerful solutions to everyday business problems. He has held the post of CTO and CIO at companies ranging from public corporations to nimble technology start-ups. He is the author of several IT management books, including the exciting new business novel The Phoenix Project in tandem with the same author team as the bestselling Visible Ops Handbook, which he also coauthored with Gene Kim and George Spafford, and The Definitive Guide to IT Management, published by Hewlett Packard.
Kevin is a very popular keynote speaker and is frequently called on to address a broad range of technology and management topics by organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences, Hewlett-Packard, the SANS Institute, AFCOM and The IT Service Management Forum.
George is a Research Director for Gartner covering process improvement in IT operations that leverage best practice references such as ITIL, COBIT, ISO/IEC 20000 and so forth. He is a prolific author and speaker, and has consulted and conducted training on strategy, IT management, information security and overall service improvement in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and China. His publications include co-authorship of “The Phoenix Project”, “The Visible Ops Handbook", “Visible Ops Security” and the IIA Information Security Governance guidance. His current areas of research include service design, complexity and operational processes.
Gene Kim is a multiple award-winning CTO, researcher and author, and has been studying high-performing technology organizations since 1999. He was founder and CTO of Tripwire for 13 years. He has written six books, including The Unicorn Project (2019), The Phoenix Project (2013), The DevOps Handbook (2016), the Shingo Publication Award winning Accelerate (2018), and The Visible Ops Handbook (2004-2006) series. Since 2014, he has been the founder and organizer of the DevOps Enterprise Summit, studying the technology transformations of large, complex organizations.
In 2007, ComputerWorld added Gene to the “40 Innovative IT People to Watch Under the Age of 40” list, and he was named a Computer Science Outstanding Alumnus by Purdue University for achievement and leadership in the profession.
He lives in Portland, OR, with his wife and family.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book wonderful, easy to read, and with good concepts. They also describe the writing style as easy to understand, recognizable, and entertaining. Readers also appreciate the storyline, which provides a realistic view of what types of reactions to expect.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book wonderful, educational, and worth every moment. They also say it's a very solid book that provokes thinking about business problems.
"...Overall, I recommend this book. Its both a good read with an interesting, if unusual, story to tell, and certainly capable of getting one to think..." Read more
"...to allow for rapid development and deployment of secure, quality-tested products as well as aiding in automation of these products/software...." Read more
"== Summary ==This is an excellent novel explaining how things go on IT projects and departments...." Read more
"Props to goodwill. Product was labeled as 'acceptable' and came in very good condition...." Read more
Customers find the book has good concepts and would recommend it to other people working in IT. They say the story informs, educates, and provides a jumping-off point for IT organizations. Readers also say the book is a clever pointer to the way forward. They mention it's entertaining and even cathartic read.
"...Goal and OPT movement almost 30 years ago this book is a clever pointer to the way forwards - starting from where at least many firms would..." Read more
"...avoids stereotypes - the characters are well-defined and have actual motivations...." Read more
"...This book is essential for IT organizations as it uses real examples to show the problems IT groups face, how to overcome those challenges, and how..." Read more
"...The book is insightful, easy to read (for anyone used to IT terms and words) and very well written.== Pros ==*..." Read more
Customers find the writing style easy to read, and accessible to a wide audience. They also say the book does a great job explaining the theory and providing an easy way for non-business people to understand.
"...book in my memory -- is that the way he does this is incredibly accessible to a broad set of people from a broad set of technology disciplines...." Read more
"...== Pros ==* Very well written novel with a perfect picture of a messed-up IT department* Is based on real cases*..." Read more
"...etc.It is written in an engaging fashion which is hard to put down...." Read more
"...a humorous reminder of how bad and fragile IT can be, and a good mindset for how an org that gets a lot done should operate. Recommend." Read more
Customers find the storyline easy to understand, convincing, and interesting. They also appreciate the nice capture of real life in IT and the laying bare of wasted effort, inefficiencies, and bottlenecks.
"...Its both a good read with an interesting, if unusual, story to tell, and certainly capable of getting one to think about the right ways to approach..." Read more
"...Real-life examples make the book relatable...." Read more
"...The story informs, educates and provides a jumping-off point for those seeking additional knowledge in the fields of Lean IT and Agile..." Read more
"...This book is descriptive and is to be followed by the proscriptive DEV/OPS Cookbook...." Read more
Customers find the book entertaining, exciting, and riveting. They also say it's an amazing book for introducing anyone to DevOps, with funny moments.
"...It'll be easy. It's riveting)..." Read more
"...I found it very engaging and definitely wanted to read the whole thing all in one sprint...." Read more
"...For me this was a humorous reminder of how bad and fragile IT can be, and a good mindset for how an org that gets a lot done should operate...." Read more
"...Do not expect a literary writing but a very enjoyable fairy tale for nerds with a moral that hints you neatly to plenty of possible solutions..." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the characterization in the book. Some find the characters relatable and quirky, while others say they're unimagined.
"...His quirky personality works extremely well - picturing him as the Yoda of the novel wouldn't be entirely far off...." Read more
"...have the characters stand for a particular IT mindset resulted in all characters being cliched; Gene occasionally hits the reader over the head with..." Read more
"...The cast is spot-on. Each is clearly meant to represent a specific organizational perspective or archetype...." Read more
"...The characters are fleshed out and easy to empathize with...." Read more
Customers are mixed about the emotional intensity of the book. Some find it painfully entertaining, gripping, and disturbing. Others say it's stressful, depressing, and scary too close to real life.
"...There is a large element of vicarious pain and frustration, but the doses are followed with quick wins and encouragements which maintain the..." Read more
"...The book manages to explain the angst, lay bare the wasted effort, inefficiencies and bottlenecks, and no matter your shop, you'll find analogies at..." Read more
"...It felt like a punch in the gut. I started sweating, I felt like I was going to throw up...." Read more
"...with strawmen corporate types makes this for a boring and stressful novel. We have Bill, the main character...." Read more
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Capitalising on this early success and riding the evolving ERP wave, I went on to eventually run global business and technology transformations. Getting to grips with building mission critical systems and delivering them for operations then updating them I always innovated and used what principles from this early learning I could to improve success and results in what limited way I could and it always worked. The issue was always a means to get broader understanding and buy in, as its "not the way it's done". I witnessed and helped the rise of the Waterfall Method with ERP and helped to necessarily transform it with hybrid agile on EPM/EDW transformation programs. I embraced the lean movement in software as an evolution to agile, and again the ground swell from the movement really helps delivering transformation program's.
But still up to today broadly speaking we are missing the big picture. Seeing at least 3 distinct functions and phases from Business need, a big slow transformation delivery team - then weak hand off to operations having consumed all time and budget - to either put in lock down and eventually redo again, there has to be a better way. Business never stops, as survival depends on it, and waits for nothing. Like water, business will find a way round every obstacle and in the process the business will succeed or not. We saw the start of this block and circumvention a few years back to current time with earlier and continued adoption by business bypassing IT ops and governance with business procured Cloud solutions like CRM as corporate IT is in lock down. Often for very good and valid reasons from IT perspective. But at a real overall cost and risk to business in the big picture this is no longer an option.
With the necessary formation of new organisation structures to enable fast competitive advantage, the growth of new data types and innovation everywhere - and the possibilities enabled by new technologies, it's truly necessary time to bring corporate - Enterprise IT and Business back together. Its imperative to create a true collaborative value added partnership - together. Business does need IT as everything is becoming digitised and IT must support and enable business to achieve its objectives. You don't and cannot outsource or lock down your means to innovation and you need technology to succeed. It's that simple.
As with the Goal and OPT movement almost 30 years ago this book is a clever pointer to the way forwards - starting from where at least many firms would recognise today they are at. Manufacturing firms would never go back to the days of MRP and push schedules and neither would Firms already reaping advantage of this path. The book points to the future orientation of the only way strategic IT and Business will function, actionable today. The book will stimulate thought and conversation with small teams sharing a common problem of finding a way forward, and start to introduce a common language and ideas in principle that can understood discussed aligned met and experimented with small focussed steps. We now implement many of these things into our programmes and operations and seek continuously to improve further. The process works. The quicker firms and teams and new transformation programmes wake up to this, surely the better off they will be.
If you are from the business or IT side of the equation, feeling stuck, pressed to do something, or just wondering what you could do or should do, and want to bring a team along with you by starting a conversation, you could do worse than circulating a copy of this book around the team and leaders - and scheduling a follow up meeting for a gentle brainstorm. You may be pleasantly surprised where you end up!
The Phoenix Project takes this idea to the somewhat strange conclusion. Instead of being an exploration of IT topics with fiction within it, this is a piece of fiction that is an exploration of IT topics. A particular IT topic, in this case - lean development and DevOps. For those not in the know - lean software development is an evolution of agile software development that attempts to take lessons learned from the factory line (especially Toyota and just-in-time management) and apply them to IT and development. Its been around a whilso; I recall attending a session at a conference about it at least five or seven years ago. DevOps is a much more recent concept that, I think, emphasizes a focus on all pieces of an application - not just the code, but its exeuting environment, its network, its process for being changed. Its a really new concept, and one st ill being explored (note that "The Visible Ops Handbook" is not actually a book, at this point).
The book follows the "adventures" of Bill, a newly promoted head of IT for an ailing automotive parts/retail corporation. The company's IT department has a history of failing to meeting obligations and having a revolving door management. This is particularly problematic given that it is also responsible for delivering "Project Phoenix", a massive undertaking to revolutionize the company. It is not going well, and it is made clear to Bill that delivering Phoenix is vital to the future of his career. Bill himself seems like a nice guy, and is definitely the "reluctant hero" of this tale; he had no particular interest in advancing in his career and had to be cajoled by the CEO of the company.
He quickly regrets this - the IT organization is an underfunded disaster, with failing infrastructure, absolutely no process or change management, and a single employee (Brent) who knows everything about everything. Bill's first day is spent running into a crisis involving the company's payroll, caused by the company's over-zealous head of IT security and leaving the company unable to print paychecks. It does not get better; Phoenix is quickly and clearly failing to meet a deadline pushed by a politicing SVP, whom has the power to push the CEO to demand its release on the unreasonable schedule of one week. No one working in the IT field will be surprised when this deadline proves a disaster, though in this case one of rather excessive scope. I will say at this point that it is clear the authors have been in one or more combinations of these disasters before - they write them vividly enough that I think anyone who has worked for a large IT organization will find themselves sympathizing with their plight and remembering past IT disasters of their own.
Bill is mentored in his "quest" by Erik. A quirky potential board member with a history in the technology industry. Erik completely serves as the sagely master in this novel. Most of his lessons take place at a local factory, where he illustrates his points about the four kinds of work and how to deal with constraints and how to move work through the system. His quirky personality works extremely well - picturing him as the Yoda of the novel wouldn't be entirely far off.
The book winds down to its conclusion through very interesting portrayals of corporate betrayals, triumphs, and even a character whom entirely changes their conception of their job and life. The end is, inevitably, triumphant - this probably wouldn't be an effective illustration of the principles the author wants to get across otherwise.
As a piece of fiction, I'm a fan of this novel. It manages to make a dramatic, interesting story about a bunch of employees in a corporation learning about a new IT methodology. It, mostly, avoids stereotypes - the characters are well-defined and have actual motivations. Even the aforementioned Brent is presented reasonably, as a helpful person who has simply been around forever. He's a problem, but more in the way his job has developed than any particular maliciousness. The weakest characters here are probably John, the head of IT security, and Sarah, the villain of the piece. I get the impression that the authors have no particular respect for the way IT security runs at most orgs, and Sarah is mostly here to be a pushy, political executive. It works, for the story, mostly because the actual villain is the IT process - Sarah is simply there show the failings and stomp on them until they break. The other flaw is that the characters, especially Erik, are prone to exposition - this is probably unavoidable given the goals of the novel.
In terms of this book's value as a work illustrating a new IT process, this is more mixed. They definitely explain all the points; I can't say I don't have an understanding of the four kinds of work at this point. The problem is that the book has limited value as the kind of reference guide that would be needed to put these thoughts into actual practice. This is one of the few novels I've ever read that could strongly benefit from an index. It could also strongly benefit from a companion volume that goes through all this in the more traditional manner. I suspect the "IT Ops Handbook" was meant to be that, but its impossible to say since that book does not yet exist.
Overall, I recommend this book. Its both a good read with an interesting, if unusual, story to tell, and certainly capable of getting one to think about the right ways to approach IT management.
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Reviewed in Mexico on June 12, 2023
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Addicting to read in its romance format, no matter in which area of IT you work on, frontend, backend, or something more "scientific" as developing AI models, you will absolutely learn something new and important!
Apresenta histórias e lições muito familiares para quem trabalha com TI, tanto em empresas grandes quanto pequenas ou de médio porte.
Viciante de ler em seu formato de "romance", independente da área de TI que você trabalha, seja no front, no back, ou até mesmo com atividades "mais científicas", como desenvolver modelos de IA, você irá aprender algo novo e importante com certeza!
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