# The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford

7 Hacker News commenters recommended The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for explaining DevOps and Agile through a novel about slow IT work, which makes the lessons easier to take in.

## Why people recommend it

- Teaches DevOps and Agile ideas (2 comments): "One of the lessons in that book is that the main reasons things in IT are slow isn't because tickets take a long time to complete" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47099887)) "it did help me get a better understanding of "Agile" and the DevOps mindset" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46048020))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Gervais Principle by Venkatesh Rao](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gervais-principle.md): 32 recommend
- [The Lean Startup by Eric Ries](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lean-startup.md): 32 recommend
- [Incorruptible by Eric Ries](https://hackerapproved.com/p/incorruptible.md): 23 recommend
- [The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/goal.md): 21 recommend
- [Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss](https://hackerapproved.com/p/never-split-the-difference.md): 13 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1942788290?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781942788294) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford", https://hackerapproved.com/p/phoenix-project/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).