The Phoenix Project: 
Lessons Learned 
Gene Kim 
Author & DevOps Enthusiast 
@RealGeneKim
Presented by 
Gene Kim (@realgenekim) 
•Studying high performing technology 
organizations since 1999 
•Founder and former CTO of Tripwire 
•Co-author of: 
•The Visible Ops Handbook (2004) 
•The Phoenix Project (2013) 
•DevOps Cookbook (2013 “soon”)
@RealGeneKim 
The Downward 
Spiral…
@RealGeneKim
@RealGeneKim
@RealGeneKim 
IT Ops And Dev At War 
6
Presented by
Presented by 
My Top Four 
Lessons Learned
Presented by 
Lesson #1 
The business value of DevOps is higher 
than we thought.
High Performers Are More Agile 
30x 8,000x more frequent 
faster lead times 
deployments 
than their peers 
Presented by 
Source: Puppet Labs 2013 State Of DevOps: http://puppetlabs.com/2013-state-of-devops-infographic
High Performers Are More Reliable 
Presented by 
2x 12x the change 
success rate 
faster mean time to 
recover (MTTR) 
Source: Puppet Labs 2013 State Of DevOps: http://puppetlabs.com/2013-state-of-devops-infographic
Presented by 
High Performers Win In The 
Marketplace 2x 50% more likely to exceed 
profitability, 
market share & 
productivity goals 
higher market 
capitalization growth 
over 3 years* 
Source: Puppet Labs 2014 State Of DevOps: http://puppetlabs.com/2014-devops-report
Who Is Doing DevOps? 
•Google, Amazon, Netflix, Etsy, Spotify, Twitter, Facebook … 
•CSC, IBM, CA, SAP, HP, Microsoft, Red Hat … 
•GE Capital, Nationwide, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, 
World Bank, Paychex, Intuit … 
•The Gap, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Williams-Sonoma, Target … 
•General Motors, Northrop Grumman, LEGO, Bosche … 
•UK Government, US Department of Homeland Security … 
•Kansas State University… 
Presented by
Presented by 
Lesson #2 
DevOps Is As Good For Dev…
Presented by 
Lesson #2 
DevOps Is As Good For Dev… 
…As It Is For Ops
Presented by 
DevOps Changes Lives 
Source: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=14218138919
Presented by 
“As a lifelong Ops practitioner, I know we need 
DevOps to make our work humane. 
In the past, I’ve worked every holiday, on my 
birthday, my spouse’s birthday, and even on 
the day my son was born.” 
Nathan Shimek 
Engineering Manager, New Context
Presented by 
“As a developer, the most satisfying points 
in my career? 
It’s when I wrote the code, pushed the 
button to deploy it, watched the metrics to 
see if it actually worked in production, and 
fixed it if it broke.” 
Tim Tischler 
Director of Operations Engineering 
Nike, Inc.
Dev And Ops: We’re Both Engineers 
Presented by
Dev And Ops: We’re Both Engineers 
The top predictor of IT performance is… 
Presented by
Dev And Ops: We’re Both Engineers 
The top predictor of IT performance was… 
…whether Ops version controls all production artifacts 
Presented by
Presented by 
Lesson #3 
The Need For High-Trust Management
Presented by
Typology of Organizational Culture 
Presented by 
Source: Typology Of Organizational Culture (Westrum, 2004)
Typology of Organizational Culture 
Presented by 
Source: Typology Of Organizational Culture (Westrum, 2004)
Presented by 
Lesson #4 
DevOps is not just for the unicorns…
Presented by 
Lesson #4 
DevOps is not just for the unicorns… 
DevOps is for horses, too.
Presented by 
28
And 
the 
customer 
got 
the 
feature 
in 
half 
the 
6me! 
Presented by 
Experiment: COBOL App + 20 Tech Stacks 
Source: Scott Prugh, Chief Architect, CSG, Inc.
DevOps Enterprise Summit 
•San Francisco: October 21-23, 2014 
•DevOps Enterprise is a conference for horses, by horses 
–Macy’s, Disney, GE Capital, Blackboard, Telstra, US Department of Homeland 
Security, CSG, Raytheon, Ticketmaster, Union Bank of California 
•Leaders driving DevOps transformations will talk about 
–The business problem they set out to solve 
–The obstacles they had to overcome 
–The business value they created 
•Learn more at http://devopsenterprise.io/ 
Presented by
Why Do I Think This Is 
So Important? 
Presented by
@RealGeneKim 
The Downward 
Spiral…
Presented by
Presented by 
Our Mission 
Posi6vely 
Influence 
The 
Lives 
Of 
One 
Million 
IT 
Professionals 
By 
2017
Presented by 
Want More Information? 
To receive the following: 
• A link to these slides 
• More information on the DevOps Enterprise Summit (20% 
discount: PUPPET20) 
• Join the reviewer list for our upcoming “DevOps Cookbook” 
Text me 
To: realgenekim@zip.sh 
Body: devops,your@email.addr 
Example: devops,genek@realgenekim.me 
DevOps,genek@realgenekim.me

Keynote: The Phoenix Project: Lessons Learned - PuppetConf 2014

  • 1.
    The Phoenix Project: Lessons Learned Gene Kim Author & DevOps Enthusiast @RealGeneKim
  • 2.
    Presented by GeneKim (@realgenekim) •Studying high performing technology organizations since 1999 •Founder and former CTO of Tripwire •Co-author of: •The Visible Ops Handbook (2004) •The Phoenix Project (2013) •DevOps Cookbook (2013 “soon”)
  • 3.
  • 4.
  • 5.
  • 6.
    @RealGeneKim IT OpsAnd Dev At War 6
  • 7.
  • 8.
    Presented by MyTop Four Lessons Learned
  • 9.
    Presented by Lesson#1 The business value of DevOps is higher than we thought.
  • 10.
    High Performers AreMore Agile 30x 8,000x more frequent faster lead times deployments than their peers Presented by Source: Puppet Labs 2013 State Of DevOps: http://puppetlabs.com/2013-state-of-devops-infographic
  • 11.
    High Performers AreMore Reliable Presented by 2x 12x the change success rate faster mean time to recover (MTTR) Source: Puppet Labs 2013 State Of DevOps: http://puppetlabs.com/2013-state-of-devops-infographic
  • 12.
    Presented by HighPerformers Win In The Marketplace 2x 50% more likely to exceed profitability, market share & productivity goals higher market capitalization growth over 3 years* Source: Puppet Labs 2014 State Of DevOps: http://puppetlabs.com/2014-devops-report
  • 13.
    Who Is DoingDevOps? •Google, Amazon, Netflix, Etsy, Spotify, Twitter, Facebook … •CSC, IBM, CA, SAP, HP, Microsoft, Red Hat … •GE Capital, Nationwide, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, World Bank, Paychex, Intuit … •The Gap, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Williams-Sonoma, Target … •General Motors, Northrop Grumman, LEGO, Bosche … •UK Government, US Department of Homeland Security … •Kansas State University… Presented by
  • 14.
    Presented by Lesson#2 DevOps Is As Good For Dev…
  • 15.
    Presented by Lesson#2 DevOps Is As Good For Dev… …As It Is For Ops
  • 16.
    Presented by DevOpsChanges Lives Source: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=14218138919
  • 17.
    Presented by “Asa lifelong Ops practitioner, I know we need DevOps to make our work humane. In the past, I’ve worked every holiday, on my birthday, my spouse’s birthday, and even on the day my son was born.” Nathan Shimek Engineering Manager, New Context
  • 18.
    Presented by “Asa developer, the most satisfying points in my career? It’s when I wrote the code, pushed the button to deploy it, watched the metrics to see if it actually worked in production, and fixed it if it broke.” Tim Tischler Director of Operations Engineering Nike, Inc.
  • 19.
    Dev And Ops:We’re Both Engineers Presented by
  • 20.
    Dev And Ops:We’re Both Engineers The top predictor of IT performance is… Presented by
  • 21.
    Dev And Ops:We’re Both Engineers The top predictor of IT performance was… …whether Ops version controls all production artifacts Presented by
  • 22.
    Presented by Lesson#3 The Need For High-Trust Management
  • 23.
  • 24.
    Typology of OrganizationalCulture Presented by Source: Typology Of Organizational Culture (Westrum, 2004)
  • 25.
    Typology of OrganizationalCulture Presented by Source: Typology Of Organizational Culture (Westrum, 2004)
  • 26.
    Presented by Lesson#4 DevOps is not just for the unicorns…
  • 27.
    Presented by Lesson#4 DevOps is not just for the unicorns… DevOps is for horses, too.
  • 28.
  • 29.
    And the customer got the feature in half the 6me! Presented by Experiment: COBOL App + 20 Tech Stacks Source: Scott Prugh, Chief Architect, CSG, Inc.
  • 30.
    DevOps Enterprise Summit •San Francisco: October 21-23, 2014 •DevOps Enterprise is a conference for horses, by horses –Macy’s, Disney, GE Capital, Blackboard, Telstra, US Department of Homeland Security, CSG, Raytheon, Ticketmaster, Union Bank of California •Leaders driving DevOps transformations will talk about –The business problem they set out to solve –The obstacles they had to overcome –The business value they created •Learn more at http://devopsenterprise.io/ Presented by
  • 31.
    Why Do IThink This Is So Important? Presented by
  • 32.
  • 33.
  • 34.
    Presented by OurMission Posi6vely Influence The Lives Of One Million IT Professionals By 2017
  • 35.
    Presented by WantMore Information? To receive the following: • A link to these slides • More information on the DevOps Enterprise Summit (20% discount: PUPPET20) • Join the reviewer list for our upcoming “DevOps Cookbook” Text me To: realgenekim@zip.sh Body: devops,your@email.addr Example: devops,genek@realgenekim.me DevOps,genek@realgenekim.me