reading

The Phoenix Project

You want the IT systems to be reliable and available and for the business to be able to depend upon them. You want disruptions to normal operations kept to an absolute minimum so that the business can focus on getting Phoenix done.
Your job as VP of IT operations is to ensure the fast, predictable, and uninterrupted flow of planned work that delivers value to the business while minimizing the impact and disruption of unplanned work, so you can provide stable, predictable, and secure IT service.
You win when you protect the organization without putting any meaningless work into the IT system. And you win even more when you can take meaningless work out of the IT system.
You need to know what matters to the achievement of the business objectives, whether it’s Projects, Operations, Strategy, Compliance with laws and regulations, Security, or whatever. Remember, outcomes are what matter - not the process, not the controls, or, for that matter, what work you complete.

How can we manage production if we don’t know what the demand, priorities, status of work in process, and resource availability are?
We can’t make any commitments to other people when we don’t even know what our commitments are now.
How would you have prioritize differently? I look forward to any suggestions you have to offer.
It makes me angry when we need to make some heroic, diving catch because of someone else’s lack of planning.
Change collisions and resource availability conflicts.
We are continually unable to stay focused on the things that matter most to the company.
The demand for IT work far exceeds our ability to deliver. I’ve asked them to make more visible what the pipeline of work looks like, so we can make more informed decisions about who should be working on what and when.
How do you say no to the onslaught of incoming work? When was the question ever asked whether we should accept the work? And on what basis did we ever make that decision?
How does anyone decide what to work on at any given time? What happens if there are competing priorities? And on what data do all are smart people base their prioritization decisions?

We need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot and get out of constant firefighting mode.
Remember, unplanned work kills your ability to do planned work, so you must always do whatever it takes to eradicate it. Murphy does exist, so you will always have unplanned work, but it must be handled efficiently.
Left unchecked, technical debt will ensure that the only work that gets done is unplanned work.

Based on what I’ve heard, I recommend that you continue to plan for the worst and we fully document Plan B so we can pull it off without further complications.
Rest assured that we understand the urgency of the situation and that you’ll be appraised of how it’s going as soon as I find out myself.
Want to tell me what’s on your mind? I’m on top of the situation. What do you need that you aren’t getting right now?
We need to establish an accurate timeline of relevant events, especially changes. And so far, we’re basing everything on hearsay.
Without an accurate timeline, we won’t be able to establish cause-and-effect.
I don’t want guesswork, I want hypotheses backed up with facts.

The great team doesn’t mean that they had the smartest people. What made those teams great is that everyone trusted one another. In order to have mutual trust, you need to be vulnerable.
Solving any complex business problem requires teamwork, and teamwork requires trust.
A great team performs best when they practice. Practice creates habits, and habits create mastery of any process or skill.
Tell the truth is an act of love. To withhold the truth is an act of hate. Or worse, apathy. Having people give you honest feedback is a rare gift.

Change is any activity that is physical, logical, or virtual to applications, databases, operating systems, networks, or hardware that could impact services being delivered.
Perfection is the enemy of good. No, lack of competence is the enemy of good.
It’s not the up-front capital that kills you, it’s the operations and maintenance on the back end.
Problems, like dog poop left in the rain, rarely get better just by ignoring them.
We pay you to think, not just do.
Efforts like this must start and be continually maintained from the top.
If you’re not improving, entropy guarantees that you’re getting worse.
Can you list your top risks we should be thinking about, and prepare a list of potential countermeasures and controls?
To effectively manage IT is not only a critical competency but a significant predictor of company performance.