The Phoenix Project

I think that Gene Kim started out writing an IT business process book and then decided that it was not going to be enjoyable to read, so he tried to slap a story around it. There are lots of great IT lessons in here, but the story and dialogue reads like a cheesy business training video. I would recommend it for anyone in an IT business, with the caveat that it really isn't a good "novel".

As a novel, this is as bad as it gets. The dialog is awful, the plot is nonsensical, and the characters are like bizarre cardboard cutouts; totally one-dimensional, yet totally unrealistic.

The message that the book is trying to get across may have been more impactful in 2013, but it feels like ancient history now in 2023. There are better books about DevOps that don't spend hundreds of pages telling a hokey story about why it's important.

Reading this book felt like a dejavu. So many situations the authors describe have happened almost exactly as they describe them. We've made the same mistakes and hopefully have learned from them. It's very well written and relatable. Especially people who've not have worked for 20 years in the industry might find this an interesting read to possibly understand certain situations and avoid some of the mistakes we all use to make along our way.