Book #18–The Phoenix Project

A friend recommended The Phoenix Project as a read about technology in business. It’s a fictional story, like The Goal, and after starting the sample, I immediately grabbed the book.

It’s an interesting style book. A midrange (AS/400 style) manager is promoted to VP of IT when the former VP and CIO are fired. He’s not sure this is a good idea, and after a little resistance from his peers, he ends up convincing them he has some good ideas. He’s thrown in the fire, with a payroll process failing right away, the large $20mm Phoenix Project behind, and more problems. It reminds me of the first job I had in Denver, and I wish I’d had this book then.

He fumbles through, with a board member acting as his mentor, giving him hints and ideas of the Lean Way, which is a technique I think I need to study. He works his way through his issues, seeing the IT group as a plant, with work in progress and inventory being a problem. There are some good parallels to what my company is doing, and I like it.

I had a hard time putting down the book. It’s an interesting read, with some good lessons in there.