In The Phoenix Project, we introduced the Three Ways underpinning DevOps. In my follow-up book, The Unicorn Project, I revisit Parts Unlimited and describe my learnings through the Five Ideals. The First Ideal: Locality and Simplicity The Second Ideal: Focus, Flow, and Joy The Third Ideal: Improvement of Daily Work The Fourth Ideal: Psychological Safety The Fifth Ideal: Customer Focus These are five topics that I’ve constantly gravitated toward over the last decade, and I continually seek to … [Read more...]
Gene Kim AMA (3 of 3) for the IT Revolution Book Club
Watch and read this 90 minute Ask Me Anything with Gene Kim, author of The Unicorn Project, from January 29, 2020. Recorded for the IT Revolution Book Club. AMA (1 of 3) / AMA (2 of 3) / AMA (3 of 3) Skip directly to transcript Questions Answered 1. Johan Tegler (jump to question in video) — A mix of questions: Technology. How common is that word these days compared to IT? In companies producing cars, planes etc technology can be a lot more. —A— Code vs databases. How much work in … [Read more...]
Gene Kim AMA (2 of 3) for the IT Revolution Book Club
Watch and read this 90 minute Ask Me Anything with Gene Kim, author of The Unicorn Project, from January 15, 2020. Recorded for the IT Revolution Book Club. AMA (1 of 3) / AMA (2 of 3) / AMA (3 of 3) Skip directly to transcript Questions Answered 1.Taylan Ayken & Andy Tinkham (jump to question in video) — Why Dr. Eric referring to people as "sensei”? Why does Erik forgot names? What’s the reasoning behind that choice? 2. Keith Klundt (jump to question in video) — Perhaps an … [Read more...]
Gene Kim AMA (1 of 3) for the IT Revolution Book Club
Watch and read this 90 minute Ask Me Anything with Gene Kim, author of The Unicorn Project, from January 8, 2020. Recorded for the IT Revolution Book Club. AMA (1 of 3) / AMA (2 of 3) / AMA (3 of 3) Skip directly to transcript Questions Answered 1. Jerreck (jump to question in video) — Have you considered publishing an "Oops All Crunch-berries" book where it's just Dr. Erik Reid telling the reader what to do and why? 2. Megan (jump to question in video) — Have you considered publishing a … [Read more...]
Resource Guide To The Unicorn Project (Part 1)
First off, I want to thank everyone so much for all your support, encouragement, teachings, stories, and enthusiasm for The Unicorn Project. I am so delighted that we hit #2 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list for hardcover business books on the week ending November 30, 2019! I hope that having The Unicorn Project show up alongside other business books shows that the technology challenges we face today are genuine business challenges that cannot be delegated away to “those … [Read more...]
#TBT – The Three Ways
Hello! As you may know by now, The Unicorn Project will be released next week on Tuesday, November 26. We are very excited to share this highly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling book The Phoenix Project. In The Unicorn Project, we once again visit Parts Unlimited, but this time from the perspective of rebel developers and business leaders who work together as they race against time to innovate, survive, and thrive in the marketplace. This book is a story about how a thoughtful, dedicated … [Read more...]
Announcing The First Audio Excerpt of The UnicornProject! (…it’s when I finally stopped worrying, because it’s when I learned that I really love this book!!)
To my surprise, among the top questions I’ve been asked about The Unicorn Project is, “When will the audiobook be available?” I've been so excited that the audiobook version of The Unicorn Project will be launched at the same time as the hardcover and ebook—and it’s been soooo difficult to not tell everyone about something cool that we were planning, just because there were sooooo many things that could go wrong… But, thanks to the hard work of the amazing IT Revolution publishing team, I can … [Read more...]
The Fourth Excerpt from The Unicorn Project is Now Available!
Hello! The fourth excerpt from The Unicorn Project is now available, in which Maxine succumbs to what has plagued the rest of the organization, starts to suspect where a massive investment in speed is needed to achieve the goals and aspirations of the organization, brings the Data Hub technical practices into the current century… ...and meets Maggie, the brilliant and formidable mind who wants to reimagine how Parts Unlimited engages with their customers… Here’s the link where you’ll find … [Read more...]
Love Letter To Clojure (Part 1)
In this blog post, I will explain how learning the Clojure programming language three years ago changed my life. It led to a series of revelations about all the invisible structures that are required to enable developers to be productive. These concepts show up all over The Unicorn Project, but most prominently in the First Ideal of Locality and Simplicity, and how it can lead to the Second Ideal of Focus, Flow, and Joy. Without doubt, Clojure was one of the most difficult things I’ve … [Read more...]
The Third Excerpt From The Unicorn Project Is Now Available!
I’m delighted to announce that we just posted Excerpt #3 of The Unicorn Project here! (You will also find Excerpt #1 and #2 at the same location.) In Excerpt #2, our hero Maxine meets a mysterious group of rebels who are out to overthrow the ancient, powerful order, seeking to enable developers to be productive and recreate engineering greatness within the organization. They, along with everyone else, are soon thrown into the chaos caused by the catastrophic Phoenix release. In its aftermath, as … [Read more...]
