The contents of this book is not at all what I was expecting from the title ‘Accelerate DevOps with GitHub’. Usually books that aim to provide up to date walkthroughs for a specific current tools tend to not place them within the large tapestry of the ecosystem. This is not the case with this book from Michael Kaufmann.
Each section is delivered in broadly three parts, which I found really effective
- the history as to why we got to where we are
- theory as to how we should use a process/technology
- and what practical we can do to best adopt this practice with GitHub within our organisation.
Taken all together it gives coherent examples of what does, and does not work, based on different teams sizes and common external/company constraints.
As with all books based on a technology stack, in this case GitHub, it is going to age quickly. Cloud based tools move on, walkthroughs become outdated. However, because of the emphasis this book places on background history and core theories as to why we use a technology, it will stand the test of time better than most.
So I think it is well worth a read, irrespective of your experience with DevOps and GitHub. There is something in it for any individual or company no matter where you are on your DevOps journey