The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations by Gene Kim, Jez Humble & John Willis

Review

The good: This book describes some useful principles and practices, and it ties them together into a framework. Some of it is supported by data.

The bad: This could probably be condensed to about 1/3 its current length, without losing any valuable information. It is absolutely loaded with quotes and references that add nothing, and actually make it much harder to sift out the useful information. The viewpoint is squarely planted in the world of web development, so if that isn’t your field you’re going to have to figure out how to adapt the useful bits yourself. Practices are rarely described in detail, and downsides/potential pitfalls are barely mentioned.

Save yourself a bunch of time and money: Get a list of the chapter headings, and look up the ones you aren’t familiar with. You won’t be missing anything, I promise.

· review, book, software-development, dev-ops