Life Quote by Gene Kim
““Contrast this to the more traditional model where Development and Test teams are assigned to a “project” and then reassigned to another project as soon as the project is completed and funding runs out. This leads to all sorts of undesired outcomes, including developers being unable to see the long-term consequences of decisions they make (a form of feedback) and a funding model that only values and pays for the earliest stages of the software life cycle—which, tragically, is also the least expensive part for successful products or services. ††””
About This Quote
Source Article: The Phoenix Project, 2013
Traditional project staffing isolates teams, causing short‑term focus, poor feedback, and under‑investment in later development stages.
In simple terms: Separating teams leads to shortsighted decisions and funding bias.
Key Takeaway
Integrate teams and value all lifecycle phases.
Themes
software development
team structure
funding
feedback loops
Mood
analytical
critical
Type
technical
strategic
When to use this quote
- product design
- long‑term planning
- budget allocation
Key Concepts
agile
DevOps
project management
Questions to Reflect On
- How can you balance specialization with continuity?
- What incentives encourage long‑term thinking?
A Different Perspective
May overlook benefits of specialization and continuity.
![“Bill Baker, a distinguished engineer at Microsoft, quipped that we used to treat servers like pets: “You name them and when they get sick, you nurse them back to health. [Now] servers are [treated] like cattle. You number them and when they get sick, you shoot them.” quote by Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e7b/gene-kim-2268_health_bill-baker-a-distinguished-engineer-at-m_187582.jpg)
