The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win book club questions

1. 1.

   Kim and his co-authors model The Phoenix Project directly on The Goal. What does the novel format add to the transmission of management ideas compared to a traditional business book?

2. 2.

   What is unplanned work in your own organization, and how much of your team's capacity does it consume? What would change if you made it visible and managed it explicitly?

3. 3.

   The book argues that IT failures are organizational problems, not technical ones. Have you seen IT problems that were attributed to technology but were actually caused by process or management?

4. 4.

   The four types of work — business projects, internal projects, changes, and unplanned work — are rarely tracked separately in most organizations. Why not, and what would you learn if you did?

5. 5.

   Technical debt is compared to financial debt: it accrues interest over time. How do you communicate the cost of technical debt to business stakeholders who aren't technical?

6. 6.

   Erik introduces the Three Ways. Which of the three is most underdeveloped in a technology organization you know — systems thinking, feedback loops, or continual learning?

7. 7.

   The DevOps movement has been highly influential since this book was published in 2013. What has changed in how organizations implement these ideas, and what remains persistently difficult?

8. 8.

   How do you identify the constraint in a software delivery pipeline? What are the observable symptoms of a constrained deployment process?

9. 9.

   The Phoenix Project focuses on a traditional IT department. How does the framework apply to a pure software company that is entirely in the business of building and shipping software?

10. 10.

    Change management is the most common cause of IT failures according to the book. What does effective change management look like, and how do you balance rigor with the speed that business stakeholders demand?

11. 11.

    What is the relationship between the DevOps principles in The Phoenix Project and lean manufacturing? Where do the analogies hold, and where do they break down?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.