This slide deck serves as entry point for an discussion about the book "The Unicorn Project" by Gene Kim (2019). Its target audience is a group of people who did not read the book. The presentation outlines the central conflict in the book between the management and the developers. Finally, it introduces the Five Ideals: 1. Locality and Simplicity 2. Focus, Flow, and Joy 3. Improvement of Daily Work 4. Psychological Safety 5. Customer Focus

1. The Unicorn Project
by Gene Kim (2019)
An Interactive Book Discussion
(for people who did not read the book)
Florian Roscheck, 2022-03-08
linkedin.com/in/florianroscheck
1

2. 3 Quick Facts About the Book
 It is a fictitious story that is very fun to read!
 I identified with the struggling developers in the
book many times!
 It is the sequel of “The Phoenix Project”
which is also a great read!
2

3. Meet Parts Unlimited
Parts Unlimited
- Car parts retailer with 1000+ stores
- Traditional, large US company with long history
- Listed on stock exchange
- Pride on great customer service at stores
- Popular with customers in older age group
- Under threat by fast-growing startups
- ”Old-style” IT department separate from the business, separate dev and QA teams
- Track record of failures of rolling out IT solutions
- Delayed, giant, 2+yr, expensive ”Phoenix” project about to be force-deployed
- No complete Phoenix software built has ever been made 3

4. What do you think is
the mood like at
Parts Unlimited?
4

5. A Big Conflict at Parts Unlimited
Management
”We are unhappy because our developers do
not deliver. They do not grasp business
implications of delays.”
Developers
”We are unhappy because we cannot get any
work done. Management does not listen to our
needs.”
5

6. Meet the People
Steve,
CEO
Sarah, SVP of Retail Ops.
(2nd largest biz unit)
Erik, Prospective
board director
…
Maggie, Sr. Director of
Retail Program Management …
Kurt,
QA Manager
Maxine,
Dev Lead, Architect
”Cranky Dave”,
Dev Lead
…
BOARD
C-LEVEL
SR. MGMT.
MID MGMT.
“WORKERS” …
…
Bob,
Former CEO
6

7. Erik, Prospective
board director
Meet the People: Two Groups
Steve,
CEO
Sarah, SVP of Retail Ops.
(2nd largest biz unit)
…
Maggie, Sr. Director of
Retail Program Management …
Kurt,
QA Manager
Maxine,
Dev Lead, Architect
”Cranky Dave”,
Dev Lead
…
BOARD
C-LEVEL
SR. MGMT.
MID MGMT.
“WORKERS” …
…
Bob,
Former CEO
7

8. What could these two
groups be about?
8

9. Here’s to the Rebellion
showing the ancient,
powerful order how kickass
engineering
work is done!
Maxine, Developer Lead, Architect
The Rebellion:
- Highly motivated
and capable IT experts
- Regularly meet at bar for
exchanges
- Frustrated with current state
- Build “Shadow IT”, circumventing
company processes
- Want company to adopt modern
tech stack
+ modern dev process
9

10. What specifically do
you think could the
Rebellion be frustrated
about?
10

11. Rebellion Frustrations (Selection)
No specific onboarding
process or hardware
for developers
Lack of psychological
safety leads to
blame game
Software tests separated
from development
Extremely long feature
release timeline
No technical
career path
No platform/process to
exchange technical
knowledge
11

12. Meet Dr. Erik Reid:
Prospective board director,
Bartender,
Guru
Erik teaches the
Five Ideals to the Rebellion:
1. Locality and Simplicity
2. Focus, Flow, and Joy
3. Improvement of Daily Work
4. Psychological Safety
5. Customer Focus
”He appears to be in his mid-to late fifties
[…]. He has the build of someone large
who used to be in great shape. He has
shoulder-length, graying hair, reminding
her of The Dude from The Big Lebowski.
But instead of being mellow and cool, Erik
is clearly sharp and attentive.”
12

13. The Five Ideals
1. Locality and Simplicity
2. Focus, Flow, and Joy
3. Improvement of Daily Work
4. Psychological Safety
5. Customer Focus
Design to have locality in systems and simplicity in everything
Complexity in systems under or own control
Work in small batches, fast and conditional feedback
Waiting for others, boredom, not see whole picture, firefighting
Dynamic to improve how we work, informed by learning
Rules and regulations, processes, procedures
Problem solving needs prevention, honesty, absence of fear
Culture of fear where all are afraid to share bad news
Something provides value to customer they are willing to pay for
Something provides value to own functional silo
13
https://itrevolution.com/five-ideals-of-devops/

14. Where can you find
adherence or detachment
from the Five Ideals in your
daily work?
…or is there a particular ideal you particularly
identify with?
14

15. …and the Rebellion?
In the book, they have the ride of their professional lives
ideating, fighting for, and implementing the Unicorn
Project using the Five Ideals!
(That’s it for spoilers!)
15

16. My Top 3 Favorite Quotes
…of my 8-page collection of favorite quotes from the book
16

17. 3. On Code Simplicity
“There are two ways to write code: write code so simple there
are obviously no bugs in it, or write code so complex that there
are no obvious bugs in it.”
- the Hoare principle, as remembered by Maxine
17

18. 2. On Startups vs. the Modern Enterprise
“Compared to startups, the modern enterprise has more resources and
expertise. What’s needed is focus and urgency, and the modern methods
of managing the value creation process.”
[…]
”You’re so right, Erik. Small doesn’t beat big,” Maxine says. “Instead, fast
beats slow. And fast and big will win almost every time. The Unicorn Project
has shown us that.”
18

19. 1. On Business Priorities
“It’s been true for hundreds of years and probably thousands more:
employee engagement and customer satisfaction are the only things that
matter. If we do that right, and manage cash effectively, every other
financial target will take care of itself.”
- Steve, CEO
19

20. The Unicorn Project
A Novel about Developers, Digital Disruption, and Thriving in the Age
of Data
Gene Kim
IT Revolution, 2019
27.64 EUR
https://itrevolution.com/the-unicorn-project/
THANK YOU!