The Unicorn Project is the sequel to the ground-breaking book The Phoenix Project. Most people know the story about Bill the IT manager at Parts Unlimited, who is tasked with fixing a derailed IT project or having his IT department outsourced. The Unicorn Project takes it a step further, with developer and architect Maxine in […]
The Power of a Game: What I Learned from Facilitating The Phoenix Project Simulation
I recently had the opportunity to become certified to lead a simulation based on the best-selling IT book, “The Phoenix Project.” The Phoenix Project simulation is not a product as much as it is an experience. The realistic scenarios, challenges and pain points embedded in the game built a creative tension in a safe environment […]
Simulating DevOps to Discover the ‘Culture Thingy’
DevOps … is a term used to refer to a set of practices that emphasize the collaboration and communication of both software developers and information technology (IT) professionals while automating the process of software delivery and infrastructure changes. It aims at establishing a culture and environment where building, testing, and releasing software can happen rapidly, frequently, and more reliably. — Wikipedia We are all, I believe, […]
Lean versus the bandwagon, lean wins
I’ve just finished reading “The Phoenix Project,” by Kim, Behr and Spafford. To be honest, it was on my reading list but had I not picked up a copy at Camp DevOps I don’t know that I would have ever read the book. My main issue with books of this ilk, such as “Who Moved […]
Systems of Things
What do Chevy V8s and DevOps have in common? They’re both complex systems with many interactions between their moving parts. The first time I did minor surgery on a Chevy engine I learned a lot about systems. The engine was a tired 283 cubic inch V8 in a 1966 Chevy Malibu which my grandfather purchased new […]
My DevOps Bookshelf
Aside from the many technical manuals on our bookshelves, I bet everyone has a few that are more process or philosophically oriented which hold a special place in our hearts. To me, these are the ones we continue to go back to and that have helped develop us as engineers, software, operations, quality assurance or […]
Don’t Fear, Testing Team! DevOps is here!
I love Gene Kim’s analogy about how all unicorns used to be horses; its a great visual that I use all the time when encouraging IT organizations to change from thinking “why not” to “why not us” when it comes to starting their DevOps transformation. If culture is really one of the greatest enemies to […]
DevOps and The Goal
Reading, “The Goal” was a pivotal event in my career. More than a decade ago a friend of mine who was an operations professor at Georgia Tech told me it was his favorite book. We were discussing the challenges of getting work done in a corporate environment. I was grumbling about leading a web dev […]