REVIEW: The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win

It has been awhile since I have posted a book review!

I started last year with a goal of trying to at least read one chapter per day at minimum, and at least one book per month. I started off strong, and was doing really well, but then some personal things came up in life that threw me off of that path. It was like dieting. Once disrupted, the routine I had set was broken and I stopped doing it. Not to say I didn't get any reading done, but not the amount that I had targeted for myself.

During the government shutdown, for a large portion of which I was furloughed, I realized how much better I could be about using my time. For the first week, I enjoyed the time off - despite it being forced. It was the holidays, and I was tired. Having had a gut-feeling a shutdown was going to be coming at some point, I had kept pushing back my time off, over and over with each continuing resolution that Congress passed. I needed a breather. However, after decompressing for the first week or so, enjoying the time off and overcoming some burnout, I began to get antsy. I am not generally someone who likes to sit around for more than a day or so without doing something. Thinking the shutdown had to end soon, I continued with my days, trying to make the best of them and relax. This put me into a routine that I did not like. Primarily, sleeping too much and watching repeats of shows that I have already seen countless times, which is a bad habit of mine. There is something comforting about watching certain shows where you have identified with the characters, even if you know what happens. It is like hanging out with old friends and reflecting on simpler times. But, I was in a funk. With the shutdown now seeming like it could go on endlessly, it was time to get back into gear and make some changes. That started with using my time more wisely. I decided to use my time learning some new skills and dove into AWS (another book review coming in the next day or so!), and I have a backlog of books that I have wanted to get to.

So here we are, another new year, and wanting to make positive changes in the use of my time, it is time to give this goal another shot.

As of right now, I would like to be able to complete two books per month. One for just reading, and hopefully also be able to work through a technical book as well, getting hands-on with some new skills I want to gain experience with. Additionally, last year I tried rotating my "reading" books so I didn't get burned out on one topic. One month would be something IT/Business related, then the next month was fiction, or something to spur my creativity and imagination. I think I will likely go that route this time as well.

But January is off to a very good start towards this goal, as I completed my first "reading" book, The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win.

When deciding what to read, I went through numerous lists of recommended books for IT professionals and managers, and I lost track of the number of times this book made an appearance. Additionally, DevOps is the keyword you see everywhere these days, along with AWS. This piqued my interest, helping me gain more insight into DevOps than I am offered in my current position.

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and much more than I expected to. The thing that made this book so great is that it is (as the title indicates) written as a novel. You follow the story of certain characters, and you go through their actions, thoughts, and experiences. However, the story covers an abundance of information on different processes. You can easily imagine how this book could have been written as a standard technology/business book - "I have this knowledge and information, and I am now going to share it with you step-by-step, in a structured, textbook manner." With the book being delivered as a story however, it made the experience so much more engaging, enjoyable, and most importantly, memorable. You get to know these characters. You bond with the characters. You go through all of the experiences with the characters. For me, it drives home the lessons much more effectively than your run-of-the-mill textbook in which you often just read with the voice of a teacher droning in your head.

The Phoenix Project is not going to leave you an expert in any single field, but it does impart the importance of not only thinking processes through step-by-step, through every phase, looking for methodologies to combine, automate, and enhance workflow through these steps, but to always ensure you are looking at the total picture. Not just the big picture - the total picture. Additionally, it gives a great introduction to DevOps for those who are not familiar with it.

For those in leadership roles, The Phoenix Project does a fantastic job of demonstrating how IT is not just a second thought or "money-pit" department, that we have reached an age where IT is like the nervous system of a business and a requirement for essentially all activities. IT needs to be considered in, and built into, all phases of operations, enhancing performance and elevating the operational capabilities of the company. The interactions between characters, especially between management and C-level personnel, offers some great techniques on communicating how critical IT is to the overall well-being of a company and how IT can help the company achieve business goals. In my opinion, The Phoenix Project should be mandatory reading for all leadership, but certainly for IT leadership.

So there we have it - book one of 2019 down, and it was a fantastic read. It has me excited to move onto the next book!

Do you have any recommendations? Is so, let me hear about it.

Until next time -