Top 10 Read DevOps Books [Updated 2023]
DevOps combines software development (Dev) and information technology operations (Ops) to enable organizations to deliver high-quality software products and services quickly and efficiently. It aims to promote faster and more reliable software delivery by automating processes and breaking down organizational silos. DevOps emphasizes automation, continuous integration and delivery, monitoring, and feedback loops. It encourages a culture of constant improvement, where teams work together to identify areas for optimization and implement changes.
Consider these DevOps books as a starting point for exploring the topic and expanding your knowledge: they offer a range of valuable insights and information that could spark your interest and deepen your understanding of DevOps.
10 Best DevOps Books To Read
| # | Books | Author | Published | Rating |
| 1. | The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win | Gene Kim | 2018 | Amazon: 4.7 Goodreads: 4.2 |
| 2. | The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations | Gene Kim, Patrick Debois, Professor John Willis, Jez Humble, John Allspaw | 2016 | Amazon:4.6
Goodreads:4.3 |
| 3. | The DevOps Adoption Playbook: A Guide to Adopting DevOps in a Multi-Speed IT Enterprise | Sanjeev Sharma | 2017 | Amazon: 4.5
Goodreads:3.6 |
| 4. | Effective DevOps: Building a Culture of Collaboration, Affinity, and Tooling at Scale | Jennifer Davis and Ryn Daniels | 2016 | Amazon:4.2
Goodreads: 3.4 |
| 5. | Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation | Jez Humble and David Farley | 2010 | Amazon:4.6
Goodreads: 3.4 |
| 6. | Infrastructure as Code: Dynamic Systems for the Cloud Age 2nd Edition | Kief Morris | 2020 | Amazon: 4.5
Goodreads: nil |
| 7. | Ansible: Up and Running, Automating Configuration Management and Deployment the Easy Way | Lorin Hochstein and Rene Moser | 2015 | Amazon 4.5
Goodreads- 3.8 |
| 8. | Measure What Matters | John Doerr | 2018 | Amazon 4.4 Goodreads -4.0 |
| 9. | Leading the Transformation: Applying Agile and DevOps Principles at-scale | Gary Gruver and Tommy Mouser | 2015 | Amazon 4.4 Goodreads- 3.7 |
| 10. | DevOps for Developers | Michael Hüttermann | Amazon: 3.0
Goodreads: 3.0 |
Let us look at the DevOps books and see which one best suits your needs:-
Book #1: The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win
Authors: Gene Kim
Get this book here
Book Review
A whirlwind tale of a few fictional characters journeying their way up in the complex infrastructure of DevOps in IT and coming back to the solutions after rigorous hit and trial methods to achieve them. A contemporary guide to an Understanding of DevOps through real-life Scenarios in the IT Sector
Key Takeaways from that Book
- The novel takes the reader on a journey of the main character’s life, Bill, an IT operations guy thrust into the role of CTO and his challenges working with his peers and the technology he is to accommodate in.
- A brilliant take on making something dry as DevOps to be fascinating and spellbinding for the average reader.
Book #2: The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations
Authors: Gene Kim
Get this book here
Book Review
It emerges as a contemporary guide to the modern application of DevOps. If you have read the Phoenix project, this one can be your next best read, as it follows the same narrative as the former. Meant as a guidebook for beginners, with its teachings packetized crisply and concisely.
Key Takeaways from that Book
- Shows detailed assessments on lean manufacturing, security, compliance, implementing DevOps culture, etc.
- Highlights the journey of top-notch companies in silicon valley through the continuous practice of DevOps through ground-touching real-life case studies.
Book #3: The DevOps Adoption Playbook: A Guide to Adopting DevOps in a Multi-Speed IT Enterprise
Authors: Sanjeev Sharma
Get this book here
Book Review
Transforming complex concepts relatively simply and providing overall excellency in its content is the specialty of this book. After reading this book, you can surpass goals set up by your workspace with the enhanced knowledge of DevOps in every field imaginable.
Key Takeaways from that Book
- The writer has drawn a parallel between a sports team’s functionality in the final event and business organizations incorporating DevOps in everyday situations.
- Briefs the reader about adopting DevOps, DevOps plays for optimizing the delivery pipeline, leading DevOps adoption in the enterprise, etc.
- Documentation of specific topics is provided, and we get a summarised viewpoint at the end of each chapter.
Book #4: Effective DevOps: Building a Culture of Collaboration, Affinity, and Tooling at Scale
Authors: Jennifer Davis and Ryn Daniels
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Book Review
A book about DevOps that focuses on the vast topic of DevOps through the lens of HR and collaboration among people, unlike other books. The book keeps the role of management and work culture in mind while using DevOps to maximize productivity gain.
Key Takeaways from that Book
- It shines a bright light on the topics such as the history of DevOps, collaboration with team partners, benefits of affinity, and tools made for accelerators of culture.
- Scales the subject matter among bridging DevOps culture, organizational structure for scaling, and bringing solutions to real-life problems in DevOps culture.
Book #5: Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation
Authors: Jez Humble and David Farley
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Book Review
The core of this book talks about the learnings of continuous integration and agile software development practices with DevOps. Has great in-depth and insightful reading about deployment and testing processes.
Key Takeaways from that Book
- It has more stretched information about older versions of DevOps practices and is primarily textual.
- Suitable for beginners who are deeply invested in discovering more about DevOps history.
- Outlines topics such as the anatomy of the deployment pipeline, implementing a testing strategy, managing continuous delivery, etc.
Book #6: Infrastructure as Code: Dynamic Systems for the Cloud Age 2nd Edition
Author: Kief Morris
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Book Review
A theoretical package on understanding practices laid out by DevOps in making the most out of cloud-age infrastructure. It is ideal for system supervisors, IT developers, and freshly hired interns. The book thoroughly defines the foundations of infrastructure as code, working with infrastructure stacks, working with servers, and working with large systems and teams.
Key Takeaways from that Book
- Although it doesn’t cover the actual coding part, as it uses a fictional cloud system, the code snippets’ meaning and usefulness remain the same.
- It requires prerequisite knowledge of developing cloud essentials.
- It covers topics like building server templates, managing configuration, changing from traditional to dynamic infrastructure, etc.
Book #7: Ansible: Up and Running, Automating Configuration Management and Deployment the Easy Way
Authors: Lorin Hochstein and Rene Moser
Get this book here
Book Review
The book thoroughly explains the uses of Ansible with the knowledge coming straight from the horse’s mouth. It is suitable for anyone wanting to develop further in the field of Ansible. A crisp and concise book that goes through relatively tough topics in a breeze.
Key Takeaways from that Book
- Clears topics like docker and variables with ease and a nice flow.
- It has a lot of topics that are outdated and incompatible with the latest versions of Ansible.
Book #8: Measure What Matters
Author: John Doerr
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Book Review
This book outlines using OKRs in the DevOps department to uplift any company to tackle problems and significant setbacks. A feasible read for people working in IT and wanting to know the case studies with which many companies have skyrocketed their self-worth.
Key Takeaways from that Book
- It guides you through many case studies to tell you what is efficient for the organization.
- A story-like narrative for increasing growth and market cap for organizations
- Has detailed views on OKRs in action, adobe story, zume pizza story, bono’s One campaign story, etc.
Book #9: Leading the Transformation: Applying Agile and DevOps Principles at Scale
Authors: Gary Gruver and Tommy Mouser
Get this book here
Book Review
The author fuses his knowledge of being an experienced executive of agile methodologies concerning DevOps in this Book. The book has severely laid out how-to terms for beginner developers in an easy functional way while simultaneously serving as a reminiscence for seasoned professionals.
Key Takeaways from that Book
- The text has illustrations and case studies to ensure a wholesome experience while visualizing DevOps.
- Outlines traditional agile implementation, challenges with scaling agile teams, understanding the transformation, etc.
Book #10: DevOps for Developers
Authors: Michael Hüttermann
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Book Review
A practical and straightforward approach to connecting DevOps with software development. Heavy emphasis on efforts of agile software development and how to improve them from the software development phase to the operations phase.
Key Takeaways from that Book
- It covers topics such as the last mile, adjoining the software transportation processes with the features of providing the end product to users ahead of time, etc.
- This book is excellent for beginners trying to get their feet wet with DevOps.
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