hardcover, 352 pages
Published Nov. 26, 2019 by IT Revolution Press.
This highly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling title The Phoenix Project takes another look at Parts Unlimited, this time from the perspective of software development. In The Phoenix Project, Bill, an IT manager at Parts Unlimited, is tasked with a project critical to the future of the business, code named Phoenix Project. But the project is massively over budget and behind schedule. The CEO demands Bill fix the mess in ninety days or else Bill's entire department will be outsourced. In The Unicorn Project, we follow Maxine, a senior lead developer and architect, as she is exiled to the Phoenix Project, to the horror of her friends and colleagues, as punishment for contributing to a payroll outage. She tries to survive in what feels like a heartless and uncaring bureaucracy and to work within a system where no one can get anything done without endless committees, paperwork, and approvals. One …
This highly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling title The Phoenix Project takes another look at Parts Unlimited, this time from the perspective of software development. In The Phoenix Project, Bill, an IT manager at Parts Unlimited, is tasked with a project critical to the future of the business, code named Phoenix Project. But the project is massively over budget and behind schedule. The CEO demands Bill fix the mess in ninety days or else Bill's entire department will be outsourced. In The Unicorn Project, we follow Maxine, a senior lead developer and architect, as she is exiled to the Phoenix Project, to the horror of her friends and colleagues, as punishment for contributing to a payroll outage. She tries to survive in what feels like a heartless and uncaring bureaucracy and to work within a system where no one can get anything done without endless committees, paperwork, and approvals. One day, she is approached by a ragtag bunch of misfits who say they want to overthrow the existing order, to liberate developers, to bring joy back to technology work, and to enable the business to win in a time of digital disruption. To her surprise, she finds herself drawn ever further into this movement, eventually becoming one of the leaders of the Rebellion, which puts her in the crosshairs of some familiar and very dangerous enemies. The Age of Software is here, and another mass extinction event looms--this is a story about "red shirt" developers and business leaders working together, racing against time to innovate, survive, and thrive in a time of unprecedented uncertainty...and opportunity.
Some useful concepts, but as a novel it is absolutely terrible. So bad that I gave up halfway into it. Not a great follow up to the Phoenix Project.
It's the first book I have read that is software development oriented and delightful! Beware you might find similarities with your current company and feel a bit depressed :D :D
Content warning Spoilers ahead!
I was looking forward to reading this book after The Phoenix Project, but I didn't get further than chapter 3. I know it's fiction, but I dislike this "Maxine is a super-developer" narrative; everyone seems to have no idea what they're doing, and the company's leadership is fixated on scapegoating. The plot doesn't stand together and it makes reading the book too difficult for me. Actually, given the start circumstances, the most feasible solution for Maxine is to use the time that she's been given to find another job. Why she would stay in such an environment is beyond me.
Uma exposição razoável de princípios Lean aplicados ao desenvolvimento de software, mas achei a narrativa um pouco mais forçada do que no The Phoenix Project.
Tenho lá minhas dúvidas se alguém que não tenha tido a experiência de trabalhar com as práticas ilustradas nessa história seria convencido da efetividade delas ao ler esse livro.
Fantastic read, I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish.
If you want to read a journey story that not just demonstrates but also inspires you to make positive change in an organisation that promotes faster, more reliable product delivery and a more positive healthy working environment - The Unicorn Project is a must read.
Longer, more detailed review coming soon...
This basically the Phoenix project but follows the development side of the story more than the ops side. I wish more tech books were written as stories.
