The DevOps Handbook

How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, & Security in Technology Organizations

Gene Kim, Jez Humble, Patrick Debois, John Willis & Nicole Forsgren

Praise for this book

Five years on, The DevOps Handbook is still an anchor in a sea of ever-changing technical currents and topical winds. As relevant now as it was in the beginning.
Shane Carlson, Principal Executive Architect, ServiceNow
Any DevOps journey should kick off with a book club around The DevOps Handbook to foster cultural and organizational alignment across all stakeholders engaged in the transformation.
Shaaron A. Alvares, Senior Manager, Sales & Revenue Clouds Agile Delivery, Salesforce
No matter what industry you are in or what product or service your organization provides, this way of thinking is paramount and necessary for survival for every business and technology leader.
John Allspaw, Founder and Principal, Adaptive Capacity Labs
The DevOps Handbook is just what's needed: a practical guide that shows you how to get started making real progress.
Jeff Sussna, CEO, Sussna Associates
The definitive long-form guide for achieving success with DevOps methodologies.
Nigel Kersten, Field CTO, Puppet

AboutDetailsDownloads

This award-winning and bestselling business handbook for digital transformation is now fully updated and expanded with the latest research and new case studies! Over the last five years, The DevOps Handbook has been the definitive guide for taking the successes laid out in the bestselling The Phoenix Project and applying them in any organization. Now, with this fully updated and expanded edition, it’s time to take DevOps out of the IT department and apply it across the full business. Technology is now at the core of every company, no matter the business model or product. The theories and practices laid out in The DevOps Handbook are tools to be used by anyone from across the organization to create joy and succeed in the marketplace. The second edition features fifteen new case studies, including stories from adidas, American Airlines, Fannie Mae, Target, and the US Air Force. In addition, renowned researcher and coauthor of Accelerate, Nicole Forsgren, PhD, provides her insights through new and updated material and research. With over 100 pages of new content throughout the book, this expanded edition is a must read for anyone who works with technology.

What's inside

Why DevOps? — Discover why the effective management of technology is critical for business competitiveness and learn how high-performing organizations are 2.5x more likely than their peers to exceed profitability, market share, and productivity goals.
The Three Ways — Learn the underpinning theory with this Lean Manufacturing and Agile primer, as well as the broader principles of the Three Ways—the principles from which all of the observed DevOps behaviors can be derived.
New Content — Explore the new and updated content in the 2nd Edition, a must for previous and new readers to keep at the forefront of their industry.
Expert Authors — Learn from THE DevOps thought leaders: Gene Kim, Jez Humble, Patrick Debois, and John Willis, with new contributions from the esteemed Dr. Nicole Forsgren.

Original Publication Date: October 6, 2016
Second Edition Publication Date: November 30, 2021
Pages: 480
Paperback Dimensions: 5.8 x 9 inches, full color interior
Paperback ISBN: 9781950508402
ebook ISBN: 9781950508433
Audiobook ISBN: 9781942788478
Topics: Audit & Security · DevOps Metrics & Measurements · Leadership · Software Delivery & Architecture · Workplace Culture
Formats: audio · epub

In the libraryThe DevOps Handbook Reader's GuideOpen →In the libraryThe DevOps Handbook — Bonus Case StudiesOpen →In the libraryThe DevOps Handbook — DevOps Handbook - Audiobook SupplementOpen →In the libraryThe DevOps Handbook — How to Get Started with DevOps GuideOpen →In the libraryThe DevOps Handbook - ExcerptDownload →In the libraryBonus Case StudiesDownload →In the libraryHow to Get Started with DevOps GuideDownload →In the libraryDevOps Handbook - Audiobook ExcerptOpen →

About the authors

5 authors

Gene KimFounder, Author, Researcher, IT Revolution

Affiliation as of 2026-08-31

Gene Kim has been studying high-performing technology organizations since 1999. He was the founder and CTO of Tripwire, Inc., an enterprise security software company, where he served for 13 years. His books have sold over 1 million copies—he is the WSJ bestselling author of The Unicorn Project and The Phoenix Project Graphic Novels , and co-author of The Phoenix Project , The DevOps Handbook , Vibe Coding , and the Shingo Publication Award-winning books Accelerate and Wiring the Winning Organization . Since 2014, he has been the organizer of DevOps Enterprise Summit (now Enterprise Technology Leadership Summit and Enterprise AI Summit), studying the technology transformations of large, complex organizations.

Talks by GeneAll 67 →

22 min

State of AI-assisted Software Development: 2025 DORA Report

Las Vegas 2025

21 min

Rewiring The Engineering and Product Organization to Deliver A Customer Support GenAI Service

Connect Feb 2025

21 min

Further Results of Our 500-Person GenAI and Developer Pilot

Connect Feb 2025

Everything by Gene Kim →

Jez HumbleMember of Technical Staff, Anthropic

Affiliation as of 2026-07-24

Jez Humble is an award-winning author and researcher on software who has spent his career tinkering with code, infrastructure, and product development in organizations of varying sizes across three continents, most recently working for the US government at 18F. He teaches at UC Berkeley, and is CTO of DevOps Research and Assessment LLC.

Talks by JezAll 4 →

32 min

The Data Behind DevOps - Becoming a High Performer

Las Vegas 2018

31 min

DevOps: The Key to High Performance (What the Data Says)

London 2017

25 min

What We Learned from the 2016 State of DevOps Report

San Francisco 2016

Everything by Jez Humble →

Patrick DeboisDevRel and Advisor (independent), Tessl

Affiliation as of 2026-09-07

In 2009 he coined the word devops by organizing the first devopsdays event. He organized conferences all over the world to collect and spread new ideas. As a pioneer he is always on the look out for new ideas to implement and explore. Currently in the media sector where he is guiding broadcasters with the transition to enter into a dialogue with it's audience as a closed feedback loop.

Talks by PatrickAll 4 →

18 min

Every AI Engineer Deserves an AI Platform, and Other Lessons Learned

Las Vegas 2024

26 min

Bringing GenAI from Promise to Reality: Navigating the Journey of Implementation

Las Vegas 2023

22 min

AI, Make It So - A Dive into the Universe of Prompt Engineering

Amsterdam 2023

Everything by Patrick Debois →

John WillisOwner, Botchagalupe Technologies

Affiliation as of 2026-09-01

John Willis has worked in the IT management industry for more than 35 years. John is currently working as a Distinguished Researcher at Kosli. He is researching DevOps, DevSecOps, IT risk, modern governance, and audit compliance. Previously he was an Evangelist at Docker Inc., VP of Solutions for Socketplane (sold to Docker) and Enstratius (sold to Dell), and VP of Training & Services at Opscode where he formalized the training, evangelism, and professional services functions at the firm. Willis also founded Gulf Breeze Software, an award winning IBM business partner, which specializes in deploying Tivoli technology for the enterprise. Willis has authored six IBM Redbooks for IBM on enterprise systems management and was the founder and chief architect at Chain Bridge Systems.

Talks by JohnAll 24 →

26 min

AI for Managers

Las Vegas 2025

18 min

Dear CIO: Navigating the Shadows – GenAI’s Promise, Peril, and the Path Forward

Las Vegas 2024

26 min

The Operationalism of DevSecOps

Amsterdam 2023

Everything by John Willis →

Nicole ForsgrenSr. Director, GM, Developer Intelligence, Google

Affiliation as of 2026-09-07

Nicole Forsgren, PhD, is Partner at Microsoft Research. She is author of the Shingo Publication Award-winning book Accelerate, and is best known as lead investigator on the largest DevOps studies to date. She has been a successful entrepreneur (with an exit to Google), professor, performance engineer, and sysadmin. Her work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals.

Talks by Nicole