Recommended reading: The Phoenix Project
The Phoenix Project is a novel that seems too true—featuring familiar dysfunctions between marketing, development, and operations. With a revision in 2018, it’s as true today as when it was originally published in 2013.
Our hero is the new head of operations and is thrown into a major sh*t-storm of a project. The Phoenix project is woefully delayed yet the myriad daily operational issues prevent any forward movement. Development isn’t doing any testing, QA is incredibly understaffed, marketing keeps changing and adding features, and operations is taking most of the blame—and putting in the long hours. For The Phoenix Project, no one seems to have any idea of the work that’s been committed or what systems and processes are being bypassed.
For many organizations, chaos is the rule and products get released due to team heroics, despite the process.
The Phoenix Project is an entertaining novel with lessons for those who want to understand how manufacturing techniques can be applied to software.
Go to Amazon to read more about The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford.
About Steve Johnson
Steve Johnson is a product management process coach, author, speaker, and advisor. His approach is based on the belief that minimal process and simple templates result in a nimble product marketing and management team. Before founding Under10, Steve was a Pragmatic Marketing instructor for over 15 years and personally trained thousands of product managers and hundreds of company senior executive teams. Learn more at www.under10playbook.com
In his spare time, Steve enjoys making music, and has an album available on iTunes. Check out Steve’s music at notExactlySteve.com