Being someone with the capabilities of Brent is a good thing. An organization refusing to invest in the development of other employees or appropriately staffing teams and give responsibilities to other folks is a bad thing. Don’t blame Brent because his organization would rather ride a good horse to death than run a competent shop. Stop blaming Brent for organizational dysfunction. Answer from daedalus_structure on reddit.com
Medium
rajipillay.medium.com › the-brent-effect-df10c4c5d3bc
The “Brent” Effect - Raji Pillay - Medium
April 9, 2019 - The “Brent” Effect My apologies to all “Brents”, if any, reading this post. The “Brent Effect” I have derived from the book “The Phoenix Project”. If you are in IT and you haven’t …
TechTarget
techtarget.com › whatis › reference › Characters-and-quotes-from-The-Phoenix-Project
The Phoenix Project: Characters and Quotes
About Brent: Brent is the most knowledgeable engineer at Parts Unlimited. He has a monopoly on knowledge of the company's IT systems and therefore must be present for anything to get done. ... (when questioned about the payroll failure) "Well, now that you mention it . . . A developer for the timekeeping application called me yesterday with a strange question about the database table structure. I was in the middle of working on that Phoenix test VM, so I gave him a really quick answer so I could get back to work."
What should you do if everyone is treating you like Brent (in The Phoenix Project)?
Are you Brent? The short of it is to reach out to your manager and let them know you want someone to train to help handle your responsibilities. Like in the book, Brent would handle things himself because it would take too long to train someone else compared to answering it. He refused to invest in other people's skillsets, so his own output couldn't scale. More on reddit.com
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August 2, 2023The Phoenix Project - My thoughts
The first time I read The Phoenix Project, I didn't really get it. I mean, I thought I did, and I picked up a thing or two, but still. It wasn't until I read The Goal, and then re-read The Phoenix Project, that a whole bunch more moving parts all fit into place together for me, and I was able to get really excited over what TPP was about. I got a big list of additional reads to recommend, like "It's Not Luck", "Lean Software Development", "Accelerate" and, probably most importantly, "Beyond the Phoenix Project". That last is really important, because it ties a whole lot (and a whole lot of history) together, with a massive array of additional references for further reading. That bibliography is now my list for further reading... More on reddit.com
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February 24, 2019Videos
The Phoenix Project (The Explainer)
23:00
Episode 2 - The Phoenix Project: how not to be a brent - YouTube
09:15
The Phoenix Project: A Must-Read for Anyone in IT - YouTube
09:40
The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim: 9 Minute Summary - YouTube
08:36
WhatIs.com Virtual Book Club: The Phoenix Project, Chapters 5, ...
58:38
[Webinar] Lessons From The Phoenix Project You Can Use Today - YouTube
Reddit
reddit.com › r/devops › is being a brent a good or bad thing ?
r/devops on Reddit: Is being a Brent a good or bad thing ?
November 29, 2023 -
Whats your opinion on so called team’s Brents?
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Being someone with the capabilities of Brent is a good thing. An organization refusing to invest in the development of other employees or appropriately staffing teams and give responsibilities to other folks is a bad thing. Don’t blame Brent because his organization would rather ride a good horse to death than run a competent shop. Stop blaming Brent for organizational dysfunction.
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This has an annoying lack of context. What's a Brent? edit: "The Phoenix Project" must fucking suck if you read it and you're still wondering if it's good or bad to reward your most competent people by overworking and overstretching them until they inevitably burn out and the whole organization suffers as a result. I keep seeing it suggested to people wanting to get into DevOps and just fuckin' why? You don't learn DevOps from a book, you learn it in the trenches, by actually supporting the development and operation of complex production software. Doing that for a couple years will benefit anyone far more than reading a book. This thread has been a strong anti-endorsement of this book helping people understand how to DevOps.
Elisabethirgens
elisabethirgens.github.io › notes › 2020 › 01 › the-phoenix-project
The Phoenix Project - Elisabeth Irgens
January 25, 2020 - I recently really enjoyed re-reading the novel — now with so much more context from experience working in a large organisation, and with planning work on IT projects. In the story, Brent is a smart engineer with a ton of experience who has become a bottle neck.
Runn
runn.io › blog › the-phoenix-project-summary
The Phoenix Project: 10 Minute Book Summary | Runn
April 24, 2023 - One of the biggest problems negatively impacting the Phoenix project was the amount of unplanned work assigned to Brent – the IT genius who supported many people at the same time, fixing their problems. People at the company were constantly bothering Brent, asking him to fix a million things.
Byron Miller
byronm.wordpress.com › 2014 › 03 › 03 › phoenix-project-the-alternate-brent-universe
Phoenix Project, the alternate Brent universe | Byron Miller
March 3, 2014 - Would the book have made much more sense to many of us if Brent was developed to learn better collaboration? Be a better leader? Would you be able to recognize the hard way above as the hard way? After all, most leaders are taught that the better way of persuasion (and leadership) is, collaborative persuasion. Collaborative persuasion helps us achieve the very goals we convey and yet, we don’t speak or really practice to this much, if any at all. While I felt the leadership story in Phoenix Project was very mature and bold, I’d just like to see more parallels of how Brent could have been fostered to lead the transition too and I believe many of us do it the hard way, or Brent way.
IT Revolution
itrevolution.com › home › 10-minute summary of the phoenix project
10-Minute Summary of The Phoenix Project - IT Revolution
July 11, 2024 - One of the central challenges Bill faces is the company’s reliance on Brent, a highly skilled but overworked engineer who seems to be the only one capable of solving the department’s toughest problems. Brent’s expertise becomes a bottleneck, as he is constantly pulled into firefighting mode, leaving little time for proactive work on initiatives like the Phoenix Project.
LinkedIn
linkedin.com › posts › mccricardo_if-youve-read-the-phoenix-project-youre-activity-7326516899905724417-EzXI
If you've read The Phoenix Project, you ...
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DevOps
devops.com › downloads › how-to-scale-our-most-constrained-resources
Lessons from the Phoenix Project: How to scale our most constrained resources - DevOps.com
September 24, 2020 - As a result, Brent becomes a bottleneck for all work endeavors. How do we begin to more effectively scale these resources and free up our fellow team members? Kevin Behr, co-author of the best selling book, The Phoenix Project, will discuss key elements of the Theory of Constraints and basic steps of constraint management.
Andyspecht
andyspecht.github.io › 2021-04-04-phoenix-project
First Impressions of The Phoenix Project
April 4, 2021 - Brent is a great plot point, because he illustrates a common IT organizational problem: having only one employee who really understands how a critical system works. In The Phoenix Project, the Brent problem is managed by more closely monitoring and prioritizing Brent’s work so that his efforts go towards the most business-critical projects and tasks.
Medium
kevinczarzasty.medium.com › summarizing-the-phoenix-project-a-novel-about-it-devops-and-helping-your-business-win-b85d9b22bdf3
Summarizing ‘The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win’ | by Kevin Czarzasty | Medium
August 17, 2021 - At times in Part 1, it becomes increasingly clear that Brent, as top engineer at Parts Unlimited, is regularly a point of bottlenecking. When it comes to getting work done, Brent is Bill’s most vital resource, but Brent is constantly stuck troubleshooting, juggling tasks, helping others, etc.
Allengeer
allengeer.com › how-to-handle-brent-in-the-phoenix-project
How to handle Brent in The Phoenix Project – AG Blog
January 19, 2017 - Brent is a problem. I think first and foremost every organization has a Brent. Theres the guy that knows how to do everything, is responsive to everyone, and generally the most helpful fella in the room. As a result Brent becomes a bottleneck for all work endeavors.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/devops › what should you do if everyone is treating you like brent (in the phoenix project)?
[Mature Content] r/devops on Reddit: What should you do if everyone is treating you like Brent (in The Phoenix Project)?
August 2, 2023 -
Everyday, I receive tons of Slack messages from different stakeholders asking for help. I don't even know how to automate their problems away since the problems are too ad-hoc
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Are you Brent? The short of it is to reach out to your manager and let them know you want someone to train to help handle your responsibilities. Like in the book, Brent would handle things himself because it would take too long to train someone else compared to answering it. He refused to invest in other people's skillsets, so his own output couldn't scale.
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Ignore them? If you respond to people shoving their problems onto you they learn to continue shoving their problems onto you. Redirect them to your manager and ignore future problem-shoving.
My Developer Planet
mydeveloperplanet.com › 2019 › 06 › 05 › book-review-the-phoenix-project
Book Review: The Phoenix Project - mydeveloperplanet.com
June 30, 2019 - This is widely known in the company and therefore everyone demands Brent to do something in their project. As a consequence, Brent is very busy and because every project is demanding something from Brent, every project gets delayed because Brent has become the bottleneck.
Andrew Matveychuk
andrewmatveychuk.com › notes-on-the-phoenix-project
The Phoenix Project" Book Review Notes
January 16, 2025 - Brent, one of the characters in “The Phoenix Project,” is a lead system engineer in Parts Unlimited and perfectly illustrates the bus factor.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/devops › the phoenix project - my thoughts
r/devops on Reddit: The Phoenix Project - My thoughts
February 24, 2019 -
Recently read the Phoenix Project. Wrote down my thoughts and why I almost gave up on it.
TLDR: I recommend the book, but it took a moment to win me over.
https://tomontheinternet.com/blog/the-phoenix-project
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The first time I read The Phoenix Project, I didn't really get it. I mean, I thought I did, and I picked up a thing or two, but still. It wasn't until I read The Goal, and then re-read The Phoenix Project, that a whole bunch more moving parts all fit into place together for me, and I was able to get really excited over what TPP was about. I got a big list of additional reads to recommend, like "It's Not Luck", "Lean Software Development", "Accelerate" and, probably most importantly, "Beyond the Phoenix Project". That last is really important, because it ties a whole lot (and a whole lot of history) together, with a massive array of additional references for further reading. That bibliography is now my list for further reading...
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I liked The Phoenix Project because I really identified with a lot of the characters. Brent was me and the managers and other staff were a lot like people I did work with at the time or had worked with. But it's quite abstract and there's a lot of depth I missed. I'm no good at reading books, I tried to read The Goal but failed. Luckily my CTO does some great talks on the subjects, he gave this talk to us a while ago and it blew my mind.
dlutzy
dlutzy.wordpress.com › 2013 › 05 › 03 › the-phoenix-project
The Phoenix Project | dlutzy - WordPress.com
May 3, 2013 - Brent is the archetypal brilliant guy who knows how everything works. Later Bill realises Brent is also the biggest bottleneck to getting work done. Every small project involves Brent somehow.
Medium
medium.com › @philgosmond › reflecting-on-the-phoenix-project-467f1e5e57a7
Reflecting on The Phoenix Project | by Phil Osmond | Medium
August 20, 2018 - The book describes how well meaning and hardworking teams and individuals toiled endlessly but to little avail before the changes were made. One of these individuals was a chap called Brent.
Cwoodall
cwoodall.com › reading › 2022-10-09-the-phoenix-project
The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford
October 10, 2022 - Overall I found one of the things that I found most enlightening is my empathy with pretty much every character. Over my career, I have felt a little bit of each of the characters’ roles, and I realize that in my current role I have become a little bit of a Brent, meaning that I am a bottleneck.
Galowicz
galowicz.de › 2022 › 12 › 19 › book-review-the-phoenix-project
Book Review: The Phoenix Project
December 19, 2022 - Brent Geller is mentioned in the second chapter when some huge infrastructure outage occupies a whole department. Bill describes Brent to the reader: ... He’s always in the middle of the important projects that IT is working on. I’ve worked with him many times.