On the back of The Phoenix Project it says “a must read for business and IT executives”. It is.
You need data backing up issues. Not hearsay.
Your job as a VP of IT Operations:
– Ensure a fast, predictable, uninterrupted flow of planned work that delivers value to the business.
– Minimize the implact and disruption of unplanned work in order to provide stable, predictable and secure IT.
The Three Ways:
- Ensure a fast flow from Dev to Ops.
- Shorten and amplify feedback loops.
- Foster a culture of experimentation and learning from failure.
There is a Brent in every organization. The wizard that pieces everything together and seems to be a required resource on every project.
His knowledge must be documented, his process automated.
If he is not a Sharer but a Hoarder, keeping all information to himself, he must be fired eventually.
Four categories of work:
- Business projects
- Infrastructure/IT projects
- Changes
- Unplanned work
The theory of Constraints:
- Identify the constraint
- Exploit the constraint: make sure it can not waste time
- Subordinate the constraint
Work in progress (WIP) is the BIG Killer for productivity. Get thing done.
Technical debt: when not paid down, interest grows over time. You keep paying (more and more) interest in the form of unplanned work.
A work center: man, machine, method, measures.
Start with thinking totally extreme: think improving to the extreme (deploy from once every 3 month to 10 times per day).
IT is at the core of every modern organization. Ignoring that will bring the organization in Big Trouble.
Hoarders vs Sharers. People holding information about tasks they only know how to do. Get rid of that/them.
Nice summary in the back.