The Unicorn Project

The Unicorn Project

  • Downloads:8438
  • Type:Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date:2021-08-08 09:53:07
  • Update Date:2025-09-06
  • Status:finish
  • Author:Gene Kim
  • ISBN:1942788762
  • Environment:PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Summary

This highly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling title The Phoenix Project takes another look at Parts Unlimited, this time from the perspective of software development。 In The Phoenix Project, Bill, an IT manager at Parts Unlimited, is tasked with a project critical to the future of the business, code named Phoenix Project。 But the project is massively over budget and behind schedule。 The CEO demands Bill fix the mess in ninety days or else Bill's entire department will be outsourced。 In The Unicorn Project, we follow Maxine, a senior lead developer and architect, as she is exiled to the Phoenix Project, to the horror of her friends and colleagues, as punishment for contributing to a payroll outage。 She tries to survive in what feels like a heartless and uncaring bureaucracy and to work within a system where no one can get anything done without endless committees, paperwork, and approvals。 One day, she is approached by a ragtag bunch of misfits who say they want to overthrow the existing order, to liberate developers, to bring joy back to technology work, and to enable the business to win in a time of digital disruption。 To her surprise, she finds herself drawn ever further into this movement, eventually becoming one of the leaders of the Rebellion, which puts her in the crosshairs of some familiar and very dangerous enemies。 The Age of Software is here, and another mass extinction event looms--this is a story about "red shirt" developers and business leaders working together, racing against time to innovate, survive, and thrive in a time of unprecedented uncertainty。。。and opportunity。

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Reviews

Anri

Great bookI think this is one of the best books I have ever read。 The story is amazing and very inspiring。

Pau

Interesting content。。。 Inexistent editor review。As with the Phoenix Project, this book is very interesting from a content standpoint, explaining on a super relatable way concepts about business innovation mixed with IT structure and Data analytics usage within a company。However, the absence of a proper editorial review leaves the book with plenty of grammatical and writing errors that lowers drastically the quality of the book that could be 3 or 4 stars down to 2 or even 1 star。It's a shame that Interesting content。。。 Inexistent editor review。As with the Phoenix Project, this book is very interesting from a content standpoint, explaining on a super relatable way concepts about business innovation mixed with IT structure and Data analytics usage within a company。However, the absence of a proper editorial review leaves the book with plenty of grammatical and writing errors that lowers drastically the quality of the book that could be 3 or 4 stars down to 2 or even 1 star。It's a shame that a book that could be a super interesting one for non-technical people to have an overall perspective of "the other side of the business" looks like that。 。。。more

Adam Hansen

A great book about disruption?。。 Sure!In the modern age?。。。 I guess so, but your mileage may vary!As a professional Software Engineer working in the norther part of Europe, I have (luckily) not had to deal with the dreaded management by fear culture。I have also encountered a lot of possibility to develop knowledge sharing as part of the work culture, but seeing as this is definitely not the norm around the world, I guess this book will have more impact for some readers than others。To me the book A great book about disruption?。。 Sure!In the modern age?。。。 I guess so, but your mileage may vary!As a professional Software Engineer working in the norther part of Europe, I have (luckily) not had to deal with the dreaded management by fear culture。I have also encountered a lot of possibility to develop knowledge sharing as part of the work culture, but seeing as this is definitely not the norm around the world, I guess this book will have more impact for some readers than others。To me the book acts as a perfect reminder of how a fruitful and healthy work culture can enable "team jelling" and negate a dangerous churn rate of employees。I wasn't completely sold on the protagonist of the book。 Although I can strongly relate to many of the arguments, which underlines the selling points of the book。 After all software development should be about having a lot of fun whilst solving complex problems!I just think that some of the "Oh let me fix that NP-complete problem for you in linear time right away!", didn't necessarily serve the narrative in any other way than making the selling point for stepping up to your fellow colleagues in tough spots, much harder (because you might not feel as awesome as Maxine appears。。。)。All in all I think the book is a fine read, which I will recommend, but you really get the gist of it, within the first hundred pages or so。 。。。more

Isidro López

It's difficult for me to evaluate this book:- Thinking about what it brought to me at this point of my professional career: not much, nothing new indeed (probably I have read "too much" in my life XD )。- Thinking about what it might bring to people not too familiarized with Lean, DevOps, Systems thinking, etc。: it can be a great and recommended reading (too long maybe)。I would recommend it specially to people who don't have "too much" experience/knowledge in the topics mentioned before。。。 or peo It's difficult for me to evaluate this book:- Thinking about what it brought to me at this point of my professional career: not much, nothing new indeed (probably I have read "too much" in my life XD )。- Thinking about what it might bring to people not too familiarized with Lean, DevOps, Systems thinking, etc。: it can be a great and recommended reading (too long maybe)。I would recommend it specially to people who don't have "too much" experience/knowledge in the topics mentioned before。。。 or people like me who need to read it because you always get something new (like more arguments for better "selling" certain principles and practices around product-software engineering)。^___^ 。。。more

Tamagochi

I was rolling my eyes A LOT while reading this book and was tempted to throw it away。 While Phoenix Project had interesting plot, likeable characters and some genuine lessons, this one felt like a heap of recycled ideas left over from the first book, put together by an undergraduate student。Let's start from something positive。 The five ideals are a good takeaway。 However they can all fit on one page and the story does not give them a proper context。The rest of the book are cringe characters, bad I was rolling my eyes A LOT while reading this book and was tempted to throw it away。 While Phoenix Project had interesting plot, likeable characters and some genuine lessons, this one felt like a heap of recycled ideas left over from the first book, put together by an undergraduate student。Let's start from something positive。 The five ideals are a good takeaway。 However they can all fit on one page and the story does not give them a proper context。The rest of the book are cringe characters, bad writing and unrealistic examples。 How on earth am I supposed to believe that a large enterprise organization can go from merging code once per month to continuous integration and multiple deployments per day - in just 4 weeks? Given another month they are already running on cloud services and doing successful marketing campaigns based on data analytics。 At this rate I was expecting the team to successfully terraform Mars within next 3 months。 Sadly they have only delivered a new 100M side-business for the company。 What a waste of talent!The author wanted to promote women in technology this time and selected Maxine as the lead character。 It would have been a worthy effort, but unfortunately she has been made into a caricature rather than a real person。 We're told that she's brilliant multiple times but are never shown anything。 She also does not have a single flaw, can write code in binary, maintains a successful open-source project, volunteers to teach children at local school, adopts puppies from the shelter, can put all-nighters and weekends on a job, obviously can save a company from collapse in 3 months, and somehow has time for her children and husband。 I doubt any woman ever will be able to identify with her。Frankly everything feels like a joke in this book - Parts Unlimited itself, the protagonists, cliched references to star wars, Sarah as their adversary, even the coach Eric。 The author also likes to sprinkle magical keywords without properly explaining their context and significance: functional programming, continuous integration, event sourcing, cloud, data science。 There is no depth anywhere。 And if some aspiring manager would try to apply the book material to their actual business domain, he or she would soon be disappointed by the harsh reality。 。。。more

Ahmed Abdou

Second time but this time on audible Its fantastic exercise to think "what would you do if you are the main character in this book"。 Second time but this time on audible Its fantastic exercise to think "what would you do if you are the main character in this book"。 。。。more

Micah Kramer

I very much enjoyed the Phoenix Project and this was just as fun for all the same reasons。 While the Phoenix Project was a combination of IT/Ops/and work flow philosophy, this one was more focused on software/data, and higher level business decisions。 Most of the concepts were fairly familiar to me in some degree, but are always worth hearing again。 The one concept that was new though was that of Core and Context。 This immediately brought to mind some aspects of the systems of my own team。 I thi I very much enjoyed the Phoenix Project and this was just as fun for all the same reasons。 While the Phoenix Project was a combination of IT/Ops/and work flow philosophy, this one was more focused on software/data, and higher level business decisions。 Most of the concepts were fairly familiar to me in some degree, but are always worth hearing again。 The one concept that was new though was that of Core and Context。 This immediately brought to mind some aspects of the systems of my own team。 I think this book is a great starting point for further learning and discussion for software engineers, application developers, and team leaders alike。 。。。more

David Carpinteiro

I've read already the phoenix project book, so i already had an idea of what to expect with this book, and the author fullfilled it, loved it, really enjoyable。The book brings into attention the importance of IT for any business, we are not an expense we bring innovation into any business, in this book the software developers side of IT。 The importance of constant innovation and the purpose of processes, they are not supposed to make peoples life harder, they should simplify, and if they are not I've read already the phoenix project book, so i already had an idea of what to expect with this book, and the author fullfilled it, loved it, really enjoyable。The book brings into attention the importance of IT for any business, we are not an expense we bring innovation into any business, in this book the software developers side of IT。 The importance of constant innovation and the purpose of processes, they are not supposed to make peoples life harder, they should simplify, and if they are not doing that either rethink or get completelly rid of them。 It also brings into attention the importance of soft skills, specially for communication, devops and continuous integration。 Very complete book, a must read, not only for managers/leaders but also any developer only gains from reading it。 。。。more

Chad Crowell

Great follow-up to the Phoenix Project。 It was a mystery how it was going to end, as a result, had me at the edge of my seat。

Raeder Smith

My first Gene Kim read。 As an AWS employee I'm constantly hearing Gene Kim's work referenced and recommended。 The story was an interesting narrative that followed a Sr Developer, Maxine, at a large aging automotive retailer Parts Unlimited。 As a large traditionally non-tech organization, over the years the company has found their technical debt pile up in a monolithic technical stack。 I was surprised at how entertaining the book was in spite of being about large scale work project。 I found mysel My first Gene Kim read。 As an AWS employee I'm constantly hearing Gene Kim's work referenced and recommended。 The story was an interesting narrative that followed a Sr Developer, Maxine, at a large aging automotive retailer Parts Unlimited。 As a large traditionally non-tech organization, over the years the company has found their technical debt pile up in a monolithic technical stack。 I was surprised at how entertaining the book was in spite of being about large scale work project。 I found myself relating to many of the headaches Maxine ran into work for a large organization。 I learned a few things about developer environments and processes。 I wish the book had more character development and inter-relational drama outside of the work environment。 If this was a work assigned book, it would definitely have been a great read。 For a personal read, it could have been a bit more "fun"。 。。。more

Ilmar

Author has tried to put too many buzzwords into sentences。 Some concepts have not aged well。

Chris Esposo

tA proper sequel to “Project Phoenix”, “Unicorn Project” the exploits of an ad-hoc ‘internal startup’ within a much older/larger organization, that seeks to do innovative things with the legacy business of “Parts Unlimited”, an automobile parts shop (a la Autozone)。 It seems to have been a few years after the story of “Project Phoenix” has concluded, whereas that book dealt with applying traditional supply-chain management principles, specifically from TQM and Six-Sigma to a traditional IT organ tA proper sequel to “Project Phoenix”, “Unicorn Project” the exploits of an ad-hoc ‘internal startup’ within a much older/larger organization, that seeks to do innovative things with the legacy business of “Parts Unlimited”, an automobile parts shop (a la Autozone)。 It seems to have been a few years after the story of “Project Phoenix” has concluded, whereas that book dealt with applying traditional supply-chain management principles, specifically from TQM and Six-Sigma to a traditional IT organization, specifically understanding process-flow concepts like WIP to the linear dev-cycle, “Project Phoenix” deals with evolving the traditional IT org from the 90s-era structure where it was mostly a matrix-like service org supporting the business, to a front-facing/customer facing org that leads the business, specifically by enabling and supporting app and web 2。0 interfaces that directly links the customer with the warehousing and services of the business。 tWe follow Maxine, a stellar lead developer as she is ‘voluntold’ to support the ailing ‘Project Phoenix’ organization, which is clearly suffering from not only traditional labor demoralization, but profound technical debt incurred by years of patchwork development。 This notion of technical debt is illustrated very well from the start as Maxine’s first task is to understand the nature of ‘Project Phoenix's’ database and intelligence asset, and she spends a better part of a week aimlessly scouring half-baked internal documentation just to find instruction on how to read pieces of the production code。 tAfter she masters this challenge, we see that she is called up by a secret group of ‘reformers’ who are quietly trying to do the right thing and introduce new practices and technologies into the company, while avoiding the horrid internal politics of the company’s official IT organization and some of it’s champions。 The premise here is that “Parts Unlimited” is on it’s last leg, and elements of the firm would rather see the org be sold off in parts or acquired rather than see it survive and thrive。 The story of “Phoenix Project” is how this clandestine group charts the perilous path to relevance, and then success, for “Parts Unlimited” by pioneering a new app and connecting it directly to their stores and their warehousing system to build a seamless integration between demand and supply。 tI thoroughly enjoyed this book, as someone who’s witnessed massive organizations professionally for several years, the scenarios outlined here read true to me。 It is definitely overdramatized, but it’s supposed to be “business fiction” not a HBS case-study, so the author has clearly attempted to make the characters a bit more ‘lifelike’ relatable by churning up the empathy/drama factor。 Some may call this cheese, but I felt it was never overpowering and it served to make the book easier to read。 tAll elements of Web 2。0/App development show up here, from a little bit of data science, server-rationalization, code-rationalization/re-factoring, web/app funnel analysis, and pretty much everything that have been talked about with the so-called end-to-end integration that many companies have undergone in the past 4 - 5 years in traditional (Fortune 500/1000) enterprise。 The change management described in the text is a good place to start for those who are looking to understand how they can lead change in their own organization, and again, the story-format makes internalizing those concepts much easier than reading from a textbook or case-study。 tOverall, this is a useful book and well written, it was fairly enjoyable to read, and it should prove insightful for many different levels from individual contributors to management attempting to achieve something similar in their own org。 Highly recommended。 。。。more

Guido

Mediocre。 Entertaining enough for a software engineer。 BUt the characters and storyline are a bit too simplistic, a bit too preachy。 While this was also somewhat the case in the Phoenix project, there I really wanted to read the story。 Here not so much。 It started off ok, with some nice "lessons"。 But it was soon "more of the same"。 Whereas I would surely recommend the Phoenix project or the goal as a "must-read", I can't say the same for the Unicorn project。 Mediocre。 Entertaining enough for a software engineer。 BUt the characters and storyline are a bit too simplistic, a bit too preachy。 While this was also somewhat the case in the Phoenix project, there I really wanted to read the story。 Here not so much。 It started off ok, with some nice "lessons"。 But it was soon "more of the same"。 Whereas I would surely recommend the Phoenix project or the goal as a "must-read", I can't say the same for the Unicorn project。 。。。more

Maik Broxterman

Great principles and ideas, but it fails to deliver the same tension as The Phoenix Project did。 The Phoenix project took the reader into a lot of challenging situations and produced a lot of enlightenment when Bill found the solution to the problem that often was posed by Erik。 In the Unicorn Project good things just happen。 It often is a sum up of good things happening, instead of being challenged as a reader to think about the problems at hand as well。 Also the timespan in which significant p Great principles and ideas, but it fails to deliver the same tension as The Phoenix Project did。 The Phoenix project took the reader into a lot of challenging situations and produced a lot of enlightenment when Bill found the solution to the problem that often was posed by Erik。 In the Unicorn Project good things just happen。 It often is a sum up of good things happening, instead of being challenged as a reader to think about the problems at hand as well。 Also the timespan in which significant positive change suddenly happens feels quite unrealisticIt doesn't mean that this is not a must read for leaders in technology companies。 The principles are very valuable, but it is just going too easily in the right direction。 。。。more

Mya

Probably would've been more impactful if I'd read it over a shorter period of time, but I needed to read when I could。 An easily digestable story and I could relate to many of the scenarios。 There were some real nuggets scattered through the book (see my notes)。 Probably would've been more impactful if I'd read it over a shorter period of time, but I needed to read when I could。 An easily digestable story and I could relate to many of the scenarios。 There were some real nuggets scattered through the book (see my notes)。 。。。more

Rushal Verma

It's a very nice book(novel would be better to say) around devops (what exactly it means and its philosophy)。 The overall story about the engineers taking initiatives and why change is way forward been illustrated very beautiful in it。 There are some caveats which I feel are like since it's more of a novel, it's very predictable and can go into cliche field easily but I like the overall storytelling as well as some climatic situations presented in the book。 I might given it 5 stars if they've pr It's a very nice book(novel would be better to say) around devops (what exactly it means and its philosophy)。 The overall story about the engineers taking initiatives and why change is way forward been illustrated very beautiful in it。 There are some caveats which I feel are like since it's more of a novel, it's very predictable and can go into cliche field easily but I like the overall storytelling as well as some climatic situations presented in the book。 I might given it 5 stars if they've presented some failures too (not just success stories)。 。。。more

Florian Hopf

A different view on Parts Unlimited, the company in the Phoenix Project, this time from the perspective of a development team。 Even though I took a lot more learnings from the Phoenix Project (maybe because my day to day work is closer to the Unicorn Project) it still contains many valuable lessons on shipping products faster and better。I can agree with other reviewers that Maxine is maybe too much of a superhero and the timelines are not exactly realistic - nevertheless it's a recommended, high A different view on Parts Unlimited, the company in the Phoenix Project, this time from the perspective of a development team。 Even though I took a lot more learnings from the Phoenix Project (maybe because my day to day work is closer to the Unicorn Project) it still contains many valuable lessons on shipping products faster and better。I can agree with other reviewers that Maxine is maybe too much of a superhero and the timelines are not exactly realistic - nevertheless it's a recommended, highly entertaining read 。。。more

Paolo

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it, click here。 The book is a bit slow to read and not very entertaining for moments (especially for the last parts for the book)。 It follows the same idea of the Phoenix Project, but it lacks the impact the other book had (although they are in parallel)。 Apart from the way it was written, there are a couple of events that were kind of dangerous if they are believed to happen in real life: developers coding outside working-hours without getting tired, replacing a whole legacy system in one week。 If managers rea The book is a bit slow to read and not very entertaining for moments (especially for the last parts for the book)。 It follows the same idea of the Phoenix Project, but it lacks the impact the other book had (although they are in parallel)。 Apart from the way it was written, there are a couple of events that were kind of dangerous if they are believed to happen in real life: developers coding outside working-hours without getting tired, replacing a whole legacy system in one week。 If managers read the book and use it as a reference within their companies, expectations will crash against reality。 There are a few things that I like from the book: the Five Ideals, the Core and the Context and the references at the end of the book: a set of links and resources to understand more about the topics mentioned throughout the chapters。 。。。more

Joan

Interesting look into technology even if a little preachy

Erin

This book had some useful information, which is why I’m not giving it 2 stars。 But it was kind of a mess! Typos, random threads/tidbits that didn’t belong, and so many indistinguishable characters。 Plus the second half went on and on。

pluton

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it, click here。 It was an overall fine story about transforming an old company and learning new tricks from the inside。 From my (skeptical) point of view, it's way too idealistic, making such a change in a big company in only a few months is unrealistic。There are a number of references to real companies and IT people, their experiences, learnings, practices。 One of them are functional programming principles, mentioning Clojure once and how the implementation was ten times smaller than the one in (evidently) Jav It was an overall fine story about transforming an old company and learning new tricks from the inside。 From my (skeptical) point of view, it's way too idealistic, making such a change in a big company in only a few months is unrealistic。There are a number of references to real companies and IT people, their experiences, learnings, practices。 One of them are functional programming principles, mentioning Clojure once and how the implementation was ten times smaller than the one in (evidently) Java, which is not surprising; and the FP principles applied not only to software。 The Five Ideals are certainly interesting, I haven't heard about them before。Compared to "the first part", The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win, if I remember correctly, that was lower-lever and more technical; this one is more about organizational change driven by very motivated, well-versed employees。 Of course this book is about a product company, not about contracting firms, although they can also get something from it。 The book describes the general processes of the software and data transformations in a fast way, but realistically there would be many more errors, snags, hurdles on the way。 。。。more

MURAT KARAOZ

I am a non native English speaker。 I was looking for books to read to improve my English skills。 I picked a few teen-fiction books, Phoenix Project and Unicorn Project books。 You don't expect a these book to literary value so my expectations were low。 I started with the Phoenix Project。 It was a great book。 Simple English, a decent story around devops principals。 Since I liked it so much, I jumped on to the Unicorn Project as soon as it was finished。 However Unicorn project is nothing like the P I am a non native English speaker。 I was looking for books to read to improve my English skills。 I picked a few teen-fiction books, Phoenix Project and Unicorn Project books。 You don't expect a these book to literary value so my expectations were low。 I started with the Phoenix Project。 It was a great book。 Simple English, a decent story around devops principals。 Since I liked it so much, I jumped on to the Unicorn Project as soon as it was finished。 However Unicorn project is nothing like the Phoenix Project。 For non-natives, it has a lot uncommon and strange words。 The story is boring and so surreal。 Developers implementing binary patches on DB drivers in a few hours, QA people forming underground rebellion groups and steal hardware from data centers for their projects, people not caring about regulatory requirements to get things done and justify it。 I had to skip a lot of pages to finish the book。 If you are looking for a IT novel just read the Phoenix Project。 。。。more

Tom S

Good ideas but too longThe concepts shared and ideas in the book are absolutely valuable and correct。 However the story lines to explain them are needlessly long and complex

Damiaan

The names of all the different people sometimes hard to follow if you have listen to it with the audio book。But just as the Phoenix project this is a marvelous story

Vladimir

Not awesome as Phoenix Project, but still a good book to read

Hui Lin Tan

I gave up on this book midway。 Having started with The Phoenix Project, this seemed by comparison draggy and repetitive。 I suppose I could have enjoyed this more if I hadn’t read The Phoenix Project beforehand。

James Traxler

Quite enjoyable - I'd almost give it 4 stars。It was better than The Phoenix Project, in my opinion。It recycled the same format as that previous book。Having recently also read The Goal by Eliyahu M。 Goldratt, I see where Mr。 Kim got his idea for both these books。 He basically nabbed it from Goldratt。I suppose I enjoy reading about developers developing (sad, I know)。Easy to read。A bit obvious with the characters, i。e。 the hero female dev genius and the really negative horrible overlord type。 Real Quite enjoyable - I'd almost give it 4 stars。It was better than The Phoenix Project, in my opinion。It recycled the same format as that previous book。Having recently also read The Goal by Eliyahu M。 Goldratt, I see where Mr。 Kim got his idea for both these books。 He basically nabbed it from Goldratt。I suppose I enjoy reading about developers developing (sad, I know)。Easy to read。A bit obvious with the characters, i。e。 the hero female dev genius and the really negative horrible overlord type。 Real life has a few more shades of grey than that。The Erik guru chiming in with his incredible insights that he's read in a few famous business books is a bit irritating。 I know the point of the book is to promote those important 'ideals' but the way he brings them up, is it bit random/unexpected at times。Worth a read though。Anyway, for reference, The Five Ideals are:1。 Locality and Simplicity2。 Focus, Flow and Joy3。 Improvement of Daily Work4。 Psychological Safety5。 Customer Focus 。。。more

Lokesh Amarnath

The book is a phenomal sorry of how a company goes on software agility, how it can help developers and provide value to customers。 Really good to start seeing the big picture as a junior software engineer。

Alexander

Not as good as Phoenix project, but still one of the best out thereThe unicorn project was not as fun as the Phoenix project, and read less like a novel but more like a detailed retelling of a success story。 But compared to Phoenix project this was about the troops that make the business work at the lower levels and less so about management at the highest level。 As such the five rules make a lot of sense when it comes to daily life of a developer。

Isha Mehra

Using iterators can “save you from decades of frustration and make the world a safer place”。 Not kidding, thats really a direct quote from this book。 I couldn’t stop eye rolling the whole time I was reading this book。 Its good for someone who has just woken up from the dark ages or for someone who wants to find out what the I and the T stand for in IT but, no, no its not for developers or people actively working in the software industry。 Give it a pass, instead read the clean code series for unc Using iterators can “save you from decades of frustration and make the world a safer place”。 Not kidding, thats really a direct quote from this book。 I couldn’t stop eye rolling the whole time I was reading this book。 Its good for someone who has just woken up from the dark ages or for someone who wants to find out what the I and the T stand for in IT but, no, no its not for developers or people actively working in the software industry。 Give it a pass, instead read the clean code series for uncle bob’s nuggets of wisdom that have definitely stood the test of time。 。。。more