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Those of you in the DevOps community know exactly who I am talking about when I use the term Unicorn. Amazon, Netflix, and Disney all come to mind. After two days here at the DevOps Enterprise Summit, we shouldn’t be using the term unicorn at all to describe these high-performing IT organizations. If we have to choose  four-legged animal, they are more like a thoroughbred than a unicorn. Here’s why. When trying to strategically position a firm in the marketplace, scholars like to use Resource-Based Theory (sometimes called the Resource-Based View of the Firm), largely popularized in recent literature by Jay Barney. His seminal paper in 1991 is frequently cited when trying to understand why one firm has competitive advantage ...

Today is a great day for aspiring (and perhaps current) IT leaders as The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford is now finally available and shipping. If you are in any way connected to anything related to information technology, this book should be on your reading list for Q1 2013. I read the final manuscript in a matter of days and could not put it down. This book is modeled after the iconic manufacturing title, The Goal. But instead of an overweight scout causing an enlightening view into the theory of constraints (poor Herbie), it’s a failing IT department in a business outpaced by competitors. All of the classic themes of today’s IT issues are explored ...