IT Revolution's video: Gene Kim AMA 3 of 3 - IT Rev Book Club: The Unicorn Project

90 minute Ask Me Anything with Gene Kim, author of The Unicorn Project (Jan 27, 2020) Read the transcript: https://itrevolution.com/gene-kim-tup-ama-3-of-3/ 1. Technology. How common is that word these days compared to IT? How much work in TUP is about developing code vs developing databases? Is there some idea of the mix of different databases in TUP, like relational, graph, doc, search etc? How is the mix? Make or buy. How much of the IT systems in TUP are developed in house and how much is bought? Suppliers can give the impression that you can buy systems have the functions you need (ERP, MRP, MES, PLM etc). Visualize the teams. Is there some diagrams of the teams and the org in TUP? To better see the team topologies. “The vast architecture beneath”. A good phrase in the book. How can you improve the understanding of complex software, when you are not working as a developer? 2. What novels (and non-fiction books) can be found today in a wider area (see areas below)? Does IT Rev plans for more novels here, or knows of others who have plans? 3. What amuses me is how little attention is paid to Maxine’s family (at chapter 9 now). And she has kids! It seems she is not seeing them at all with all the overwork and hangouts at the bar. I wonder if this is on purpose and will change when they fix things in Parts Unlimited. However, this work-life imbalance isn’t explicit, like it was in TPP. Can you comment on this? 4. Was interesting to see the inclusion of project/program management into de rebellion, as often I have seen PMs be associated with the problem and not necessarily the solution. Would like to know more on PM participation on DevOps environment and as part of the rebellion 5. You mention project Unicorn in The Phoenix Project. Did you have the idea/structure (or log ideas) for The Unicorn Project book while you were writing the Phoenix? 6. Question about the Third Ideal : How much should be invest in improvement over really doing the work? Push to an extreme it would mean producing nothing and just theorizing about the best way of doing things, which is not good, right ? 7. Do you have any relationship to Burr Sutter? If yes, what are your thought differences and similaries on DevOps and Agile? 8. Are you seeing anything like a “renaissance” of project management in areas like value stream management? 9. How do you prevent having two departments in the same organization from having two drastically different practices in operations? 10. Dedicated, cross-functional teams probably gets the best attention in Accelerate on pp181-3 in the section that describes squads, chapters, etc, at ING Netherlands. I wonder if the Good Product Team described by Marty Cagan at SVPG is a construct that can be identified (or proven not to be critical)? In my experience, such teams, which are optimized for speed, trump other team forms. 11. One issue that I’ve seen organizations that have not gone through a transformation is that multiple people are effectively doing the same role. This manifests most clearly in the product management function. When Business and Technology still are considered separate from each other, then you effectively get two (or more) people providing pieces of the product management function, sometimes with conflicting overlaps. What ways have you seen this problem overcome? 12. Have you considered opening your own Dockside Bar? 13. You always seem to reference books in your responses, do you have a recommended book list somewhere and if so, an order in which to read those books? 14. How does one find those that the executives will listen to until the rebellion has proven itself? 15. Is there some intention about making the case for diversity in TUP (apart from the obvious of having Maxine as the center character) or if it was more about aligning to the typical standard in IT/Digital/Corporate leadership (which in reality and at Parts Unlimited seem to lack diversity). 16. How do the 5 ideals relate to the 3 ways? 17. I have seen in many organizations a rush towards creating a solution before really trying to understand the problem. What are your recommendations for better understanding the problem and to cure such behavior. 18. What happened to Patty? She did so much of the heavy lifting in TPP. 19. Can you think of any instances where a Mainframe infrastructure team are practicing in a DevOps organisation?