The book is titled The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win, and if ever there was a misleading title, this would be it. Not because the title is wrong - it is about something called The Phoenix Project - but because looking at the title made me think of spy adventures, car chases and fiery explosions. No such luck - this novel is dryer than a popcorn fart. Still, it is a tech novel. And after having spent all that time reading it (and as far as I'm concerned, that's a few hours of my life I ain't ever getting back), I figure I should at least be able to write a review on it.
This book is written by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford. If they ever write any more stuff that's not a work of fiction, I'd probably read it. Because nothing can be worse than their fiction... I hope.
The Premise
The protagonist is a Director of Midrange Technology Operations in a manufacturing and retail company, Parts Unlimited. One fateful day, he receives a promotion to the rank of VP of IT Operations and discovers that his troubles have just begun. Deadlines are looming for the floundering Phoenix Project, processes are a huge mess and the amount of politics he has to wade through is staggering. Along the way, he discovers the right way to do things, gets his colleagues on board, and turns the operation around, culminating in the success of The Phoenix Project.We'll see a lot of references to manufacturing practices, and how automated DevOps come into play. It's really a case study disguised as fiction. If that's your poison, you'll love this novel.
The Characters
Bill Palmer, VP of IT Operations and the protagonist of this novel. He's in over his head much of the time, and since this novel is in first-person format, a lot of what we see is from the view of this guy.
Steve Masters, CEO. The head honcho at Parts Unlimited who starts off as the strangely charming boss who doesn't do well under pressure and tries to impose upon IT what his vision of IT is. I've worked for that sort; it rarely ends well. So it's bit of a surprise when he starts acting sensibly (and with a lot more humility) mid-novel.
Erik Reid, Board Member. Nondescript, chubby, old. Doesn't look like anybody important, until he opens his mouth and starts speaking in riddles. He's apparently the Yoda of the book, and dispenses advice, sometimes cryptically so. Even refers to Bill as "grasshopper" at some point.
Sarah Moulton, SVP of Retail Operations. The antagonist of the story. She's insecure and conniving, always plotting to score political points at somebody's expense. Unlike many of the other characters, there's no redemption for her at the end.
Wes Davis, Director of Distributed Technology Operations. Overweight, outspoken, and shoots from the hip.
Patty McKee, Director of IT Service Support. She's described by Bill as "thoughtful, analytical, and a stickler for processes and procedures". This earns her a fair amount of ire from people who just want to work. However, her fanatic focus turns out to be a boon as Bill and team frantically try to restore order.
Brent Geller, Lead Engineer. Guy doesn't have much of a personality, so it's a bit of a surprise that he's mentioned every few pages. Apparently he's a brilliant engineer who, as a resource, is misused by just about everyone.
Chris Allers, VP of Application Development. Physically fit, has a reputation as a capable and no-nonsense manager. Gets buddy-buddy with Bill midway.
John Pesche, Chief Information Security Officer. Mid-thirties, haggard, overweight. Officious and self-important, his pompous exterior hides a really insecure guy beneath. He starts off getting in the way of everyone due to inane security policy implementation, but by the end of the novel he's on board. Has the most amount of character growth among the entire cast.
Dick Landry, CFO. I kind of like this guy. He's so funny when he's stressed out. "Get your IT guys to fix this. The hole this blows in our quarterly numbers will be impossible to hide, and maybe even impossible to explain away. Call me, Steve. I’ll be on the window ledge." Hilarious.
Paige, Bill's wife. Doesn't have much to do in the novel other than remind the reader that Bill Palmer has a family.
The Mood
Bland and formulaic. You already know how it's going to end before you read it. It's that kind of book. It's here to teach you a few lessons, but first, it walks you through the horribly screwed up situations just so you know what happens when you don't do things right. And then it gives you a few hope spots here and there, but ultimately, it's really predictable.What I liked
Lessons are imparted into the novel conveniently. The four types of work, the Three Ways, the comparisons of IT to manufacturing, value streams and so on. No, really. Without these, there's absolutely no reason for this novel to exist. The story fucking sucks! And anyone who can say otherwise with a straight face has either not read that many novels or is one hell of a poker player.The yelling match between Steve and Bill. Just when the novel was starting to put me to sleep, this little fantasy of telling my boss off and tendering my resignation with more drama than necessary, gave me a proper jolt. In practice, of course, real professionals quit as quietly as possible. The quieter the better.
This part was actually pretty funny.
Show me a developer who isn't crashing production systems, and I'll show you one who can't fog a mirror. Or more likely, is on vacation.
Character development. Whatever else you might say about the characters, at least some of them go through a transformation. To me, they're either boring as heck, one-dimensional or annoying... but at least they aren't static. That's something.
Bringing back bad memories. Being a techie and having work dumped on you by know-nothings who are convinced that their work is so important that this makes them exempt to the rules put in place for due process? I've worked in companies like that before. This is way too relatable. I give this novel mad props for that.
What I didn't
The entire Yoda shtick with Erik Reid. Seriously, his entire persona was probably supposed to sound cool, but reeks of bombast and pretension. What's with the habit of deliberately failing to get everyone's name right until they prove to him they're worthy of that basic courtesy? What a dick.The way Bill finds out what the four categories of work are. In this day and age, couldn't he just do a goddamn Google search? I guess it wouldn't make for such a nice story though...
Kirsten Fingle, who runs the Project Management Office. Nancy Mailer, Chief Audit Executive. Maggie Lee, Senior Director of Retail. Laura Beck, HR. Stacy, Steve's PA. You know what? They all sort of start to blend together at some point. There's really nothing about any of these people that make them stand out as individuals. The authors probably don't spend a lot of time around professional women.
Weepy touchy-feely sappy session where Steve gets everyone to talk about their goals and aspirations and be vulnerable in front of everyone else. God, that was painful to read. Can y'all just get back to hating each other, please?
Bill was from the Marines. So was Erik. And Steve was from the military or something. What is it with the authors and ex-military personnel? Are they implying that only people who have gone through military training can do this shit? Absurd.
Generally, I don't get this novel. I just don't understand why something like this exists at all. What did it accomplish that a series of case studies couldn't? The authors are probably brilliant VPs, Managers and Directors... but they aren't novelists, that's for sure.
Conclusion
If you're not a techie, this book may not be for you. Heck, even if you are a techie, trying to stay interested in the story is a struggle unless you really like reading about office politics and the day-to-day grind of IT operations. In a friggin' novel.This is just my opinion, though. It's supposedly gotten rave reviews from techies all over the world and Management in my company seem to love it, so it must be doing something right. Maybe I'm off-base here judging it on the basis of (gasp!) storyline and (double gasp!) characterization. But what the hell, man. I'm not Management and I'm under absolutely no obligation to even pretend to like it.
My Rating
4.5 / 10
The Phoenix Project just doesn't fly.
T___T
T___T
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