Jez humble, coauthor of the jolt awardwinning book continuous delivery and principal at thoughtworks studios this book is the modern day version of the goal. The personalities, politics and espionage intrigues that shaped the dea. In 1967 the cias far east division of clandestine services developed a program that came to be known as phoenix. As soon as i started evaluating the phoenix project in the context of a business book, rather than fiction, i started enjoying it a lot more, gaining much more insight into the concepts presented, rather than focusing on the unsophisticated prose and highly contrived. Damron, cias project coordinator for the phoenix program in gia dinh province. But phoenix went far beyond aspirations of winning in vietnam. Jez humble, coauthor of the jolt awardwinning book continuous delivery and principal at thoughtworks studios this book is. This parable of an it project on the brink of destruction is told with humor and insight. The phoenix project is a business book masquerading as a work of fiction. It borrows a similar format as patrick lencionis 5 dysfunctions of a team where the strategies and learnings are based in a story of a struggling technical company. The untold story of the 2008 financial crisis full vice special report hbo duration. Phoenix was the grotesque brainchild of william colby and may have resulted in the elimination, to use colby anaseptic phrase, more than 40,000 south vietnamese civilians, suspected by the. Kevin behr is chief science officer and general manager of praxis flow and founder of the information technology process institute. The phoenix project ebook by gene kim 9780988262584.
He is the author of six books, the unicorn project 2019, and coauthor of the shingo publication award winning accelerate 2018, the devops handbook 2016, and the phoenix project 20. Intelligence coordination and exploitation icex, now better known as the phoenix program, was one of the american militarys most closely guarded operations of the vietnam war. The program utilized a by any means necessary strategy to warfare that included the use of random assassination and the fabrication of enemy atrocities in order to rally the civilian population around u. Gene kim is an author, a researcher and an awardwinning chief technology officer.
The phoenix project is very realistic, with an entertaining cast of characters that many cios will recognizeincluding sarah, the svp of operations, who wants phoenix available asap even if its not ready perfection is the enemy of the good. Shifting from oil to hydrogen, a book by harry braun. These include novels, short stories, graphic novels and comic books. Devops is the application of lean manufacturing methods, architecture.
Where wes is large, combative, and some times even quarrelsome, patty is elfin, logical, and levelheaded. A novel about it, devops, and helping your business win book online at best prices in india on. Macv through civil operations and revolutionary development. Where wes is loud, outspoken and shoots from the hip, patty is thoughtful, analytical, and a stickler for processes and procedures. The phoenix project uses a contrived narrative to deliver it best practices like a mother would use applesauce to hide peas while spoonfeeding a toddler. And gene, kevin and george are some of the nicest guys in it. The phoenix program was a program designed and coordinated by the united states central intelligence agency during the vietnam war, involving cooperation between american, south vietnamese and australian militaries. Between 1957 and 1972, the vietcong crippled the administration of the south vietnam saigon government by the systematic murder of an estimated 36,752 appointed village chiefs and other officials. The hotel tacloban, the phoenix program, the strength of the wolf. The phoenix project will have a profound effect on it, just as dr. The phoenix project film, a 2015 film directed by tyler graham pavey. The cias counterinsurgency in vietnam was brutal and. I really wanted to try to have another run at understanding eriks examples from the theory of constraints side of things. Unlike many other works in this space, the phoenix project is also a fast paced enjoyable read.
The phoenix project is a business allegory about how a fictional company becomes profitable after a crisisdriven change in its information technology management style. The phoenix, legendary animal that comes to symbolize what rises from the ashes. The phoenix program in vietnam schiffer book for collectors ret. The phoenix project is an importantenough book to warrant taking the time to discuss what those problems are. Apart from the main characters our hero bill, his boss steve, and the evil villain sarah the phoenix project features a delightful rogues gallery which anyone working in an enterprise will recognize.
In the works for 20 years, and cowritten with ken fermoyle, chaus book, i believe, will stand as the most important work by a vietnamese who participated in the vietnam. They are the three amigos responsible for the visible ops handbook, which can be found in the book pile of every good it. The phoenix project by gene kim, kevin behr, george spafford get the phoenix project now with oreilly online learning. How to handle brent in the phoenix project ag blog. The phoenix program is arguably the most misunderstood and controversial program undertaken by the governments of the united states and south vietnam during the vietnam war, according to a retrospective of the phoenix program by retired marine colonel andrew r. Summary of the phoenix project goodreads share book. The cias phoenix assassination program lewrockwell. The phoenix program would become one of the most controversial aspects of americas war in vietnam. If you want something that is a bit more computer related, you could choose to read the phoenix project, which is like the goal, but the story is about it instead of. The program was designed to identify and destroy the viet cong via infiltration, torture, capture, counterterrorism, interrogation, and assassination. The state of technologymanagement books might have been different five years ago, but i found the overthetop nature insulting to the intelligence of the intended demographic.
In vietnam the company developed icex aka phoenix as an intensive corporate management and public relations campaign for what is called nationbuilding. So after growing tired of repeated references to the phoenix project i decided to try and read it. A novel about it, devops, and helping your business win was quite a hard one to pick up for me personally. He is the author of the novel tdy, and a book of poems, a crows dream. The cia described it as a set of programs that sought to attack and destroy the political infrastructure of the viet cong. During the latter years of the vietnam war, approximately 19671973, the central intelligence agency cia undertook a project without the awareness of the american public. The phoenix project is an allegorical tale of devopsthe needs, the transition, and the business impactas told through the main character, bill palmer, who has recently been named vp of it operations, much against his will. George spafford is a research director for gartner. Covert paramilitary operations by the cia in vietnam began early in the sixties, but it was not until 1965, that the u. Since 2014, he has been the founder and organizer of devops enterprise summit, studying the technology transformations of large, complex organizations.
To end this competition, colby decided on arrival to unify all covert cia operations programs in south vietnam under the name of phoenix. The phoenix project is a novel that first describes the problems that almost every it organization is faced with, and then shows the practices of how to solve the problems, improves the. Exhaustive detail and extensive use of interviews with and writings by phoenix participants make up the book s principal strengths. The unicorn project by gene kim author of the phoenix. This books should be mandatory reading for anyone involved in managing it work. This is a good complement to dale andrades less emotional ashes to ashes lexington, 1990 and such participant accounts as orrin m. What was the phoenix program in the vietnam war and was it. The phoenix program, assassinating suspected vc sympathizers in a systematic manner, worked well during the vietnam war and is the blueprint for the current black op targeting thousands of loyal americans using state of the art microwave mw and radio frequency radiation rfr weapons.
As a result i spent some time rereading the phoenix project. A novel about it, devops, and helping your business win written by gene kim, kevin behr, and george spafford gives you great insights how to improve the success rate of your it organization by transforming your organisation in a devops like organisation to deliver much faster more than 10 deployments. The companys major project, code named phoenix project, is critical to the future of parts. The phoenix program in vietnam schiffer book for collectors. It might have some great examples for devops etc, but on a literary level it is absolutely terrible writing. Project phoenix seti or phoenix project, a search for extraterrestrial intelligence in radio signal patterns. It was necessary to unite the efforts of the cia, the fas of the u. Douglas valentine is the author of four books of historical nonfiction. John prados, author of presidents secret warsthis definitive account of the phoenix program, the us attempt to destroy the viet cong through torture and summary execution, remains sobering reading for all those trying to understand the vietnam war and the moral ambiguities of americas cold war. The phoenix program is a grim history of one of the darkest episodes of the vietnam war, the cias civilian torture and assassination program called phoenix. This list is comprised of some of the most recognizable names from fictional books. The secret history of americas war on drugs, and the strength of the pack. The phoenix project pdf summary gene kim 12min blog.
While as a work of history the phoenix program is one of the most important books ever written on the cia and the military, on the birth of us counterterror policy, and government sponsored. Writing a fictional account is a powerful effective way to get the message across, used by others such as ely goldratt with the goal. The phoenix project is a novel about it management. Youve probably heard of gene kim, kevin behr and george spafford before.
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