Amazon.com.au:Customer reviews: The Unicorn Project: A Novel about Developers, Digital Disruption, and Thriving in the Age of Data

Reviewed in Australia on 10 August 2020

This is a business book written as a novel. In the same vein as the Phoenix Project, this book brings us up to date with Parts Unlimited a few years on. It talks about an established manufacturing company going digital. The struggles are real and reading it reminds me of so many organisations that I have worked with over the years. I couldn't put it down.

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Babafemi

A must read

Reviewed in Australia on 13 January 2021

Verified Purchase

Previously read the Phoenix project but this was not only enjoyable but very educative and entertaining. A must read for everyone

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Mikey

Page Turner

Reviewed in Australia on 28 February 2021

Verified Purchase

Like its predecessor, the Unicorn Project was hard to put down. It's a great reminder of the principles that all modern businesses with technology at their core should aspire to.

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Safa246

Should be in the fantasy section

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 November 2020

Verified Purchase

As an IT exec with deep experience of business and system transformation programmes, and having adopted XP back in the day, and Devops and Agile / Scrum more recently, the basics here feel solid, but the actual timelines and implementations are cloud cuckoo land.
E.g: The data warehouse hasn't produced any decent reports in 3 years, but the same people now suddenly adopt a data lake / NoSQL / Hadoop solution and in two weeks the end-users are producing amazing, accurate and complete analysis set to drive a massive profitability boost. Yeah, right!
Or quickly replacing the custom-built HR system with a SAAS solution, migrating all the data and training the users (in 2 weeks, again) resulted in amazing productivity gains and reduced total cost of ownership by $100k's per year. Easy!
And so it goes, throughout the book. Ive no argument with the underlying premis that replacing complex legacy by modularising, introducing data bus / api's and detaching small elements is the way to go. But it ain't easy, especially with 100 intertwinded systems. Or quick. Especially when it has to be done while keeping the "boeing in the air". No ability to ground the planes in a normal business scenario.
My big fear is that executives without proper grounding in tech, will read this and then assume that their IT is dragging their feet, or worse useless (although if they haven't adopted some of the new internal processes they just might be!). Its complex, guys, it requires real business ownership and it takes time and resources.

41 people found this helpful

Gavin Deadman

Thrilling noval on continously improving the value stream using the modern DevOps tech stack

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 November 2021

Verified Purchase

Written in the same novel thriller style as The Phoenix Project, Gene Kim touches on every element you need to transform a slow-moving monolithic digital setup to a more modern Agile and Lean operation which allows you to validate ideas and solve problems at speed, getting ahead in the market.

I found the original Phoenix book gripping and a fun read as I've not experienced a manufacturing plant environment before, but I found the Unicorn Project more predictable as I was reading it, but I guess that's due to going through various Agile and DevOps transformations over the past few years...

...saying that, it was still a pleasure to read the heroics of Maxine, Kurt and Brent with their relentless perseverance and motivation to continually improve and learn whilst getting ideas to customers, hearing about the fruits of the impacts they were making, and the value that a dedicated and empowered team can have, through a different lens.

"A healthy software system is one that you can change at the speed you need, where people can contribute easily, without jumping through hoops."

"Because the distance from where decisions are made and where work is performed keeps growing, the quality of our outcomes diminish."

"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." Amen!

Another fantastic book by Gene which I'd recommend for anyone experiencing significant delays in the value stream or generally interested in DevOps.

One person found this helpful

Zahari Zankov

Thoroughly enjoyed!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 December 2019

Verified Purchase

Can't fault the easy flow and grabbing story of this book, much like it's predecessor. It's great to see the events unfold at a different level of the organization, one that sees most of the actual action. Would highly recommend as a casuy read or as a source of ideas.

3 people found this helpful

Stephen Cummins

A genius idea

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 December 2019

Verified Purchase

Learning about DevOps while enjoying a plot and characters is not what I expected. This works really well. Though I felt some of the ideas at the end were a bit tacked on.

2 people found this helpful

Olga

This is a great book, especially for those, who is losing hope!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 August 2021

Verified Purchase

I saw myself in so many situations described in this book, and it helped me to understand that there is always a solution. Importance of the team, clear and simple ideals, thriving for simplicity, success and customer excellence!Here’s to the Rebellion for every organization that needs to raise from the ashes!;)

MrB

Every dev and every dev manager should read this.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 October 2020

Verified Purchase

A great book, you’ll recognise people from your workplace.

It does get a bit preachy towards the end, but well worth it.

I’d read it again but I loaned it to one of my staff, then lockdown started. We haven’t been back to the office since, but he loves the book as well.

s.phillips

2020's must have DevOps book! Essential reading.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 May 2020

Verified Purchase

Arrived on time. Easy to read. I also read The Phoenix Project but the author explains that you can read this independently. Very useful for describing challenges at work!

5 star		72%
4 star		19%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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