When Gene Kim, George Spafford and Kevin Behr penned The Phoenix Project in 2013, they didn’t expect more than 200,000 techies to buy a novel about the great divide between business and IT, dev and ops.
But that is what happened. Along the way, the book also attracted a kind of cult following, and sparked a deeper discourse about the day-to-day workplace struggles and walls that keep companies from realizing their goals. It gave a big boost to the growing DevOps movement, which is rapidly spreading throughout the technical community. At the heart of the movement is a keen belief in the benefits of collaboration, communication and alignment between software developers and operations -- information technology professionals -- engaged in process of software delivery and infrastructure changes. Supporters believe there’s a better way to create a culture of collaboration and integration that results in better teams and better software.
“The Phoenix Project book described my life at the time ... being caught in a downward spiral… the novel ended up capturing the hearts and minds of so many IT pros,” Kim said in an interview.
Now comes a more practical, prescriptive guide, which Kim hopes will arm tech pros with the know-how to engineer a Dev Ops transformation in their own companies and businesses.
Packed with case studies highlighting companies that have successfully made that transformation happen, from Target and Nordstrom to Google and Facebook, the book drives home the point that companies can increase profitability, elevate work culture, and exceed productivity goals by adopting DevOps best practices. The new DevOps Handbook was written by Kim; John Willis, Director of Ecosystem Development at Docker, Inc; Jez Humble, co-author of the Jolt Award winning book “Continuous Delivery” and Patrick Debois, a thought leaders of the DevOps movement.
“There is industry recognition that something is broken,” he said. “We believe Dev + Ops can work toward a common goal. This is the most comprehensive book describing how work should work.”
Read an excerpt, exclusively for our readers, here. Then see where you and your company stand. Take the DevOps survey.
