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Top 25 Gene Kim Quotes (2025 Update)

Gene Kim Quote: “Left unchecked, technical debt will ensure that the only work that gets done is unplanned work!”

1. “Left unchecked, technical debt will ensure that the only work that gets done is unplanned work!”

Gene Kim Quote: “Any improvements made anywhere besides the bottleneck are an illusion.”

2. “Any improvements made anywhere besides the bottleneck are an illusion.”

Gene Kim Quote: “Ask a programmer to review ten lines of code, he’ll find ten issues. Ask him to do five hundred lines, and he’ll say it looks good.”

3. “Ask a programmer to review ten lines of code, he’ll find ten issues. Ask him to do five hundred lines, and he’ll say it looks good.”

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Gene Kim Quote: “Practice creates habits, and habits create mastery of any process or skill.”

4. “Practice creates habits, and habits create mastery of any process or skill.”

Gene Kim Quote: “In high-performing organizations, everyone within the team shares a common goal – quality, availability, and security aren’t the responsibility of individual departments, but are a part of everyone’s job, every day.”

5. “In high-performing organizations, everyone within the team shares a common goal – quality, availability, and security aren’t the responsibility of individual departments, but are a part of everyone’s job, every day.”

Gene Kim Quote: “The only thing more dangerous than a developer is a developer conspiring with Security.”

6. “The only thing more dangerous than a developer is a developer conspiring with Security.”

Gene Kim Quote: “Punishing failure and “shooting the messenger” only cause people to hide their mistakes, and eventually, all desire to innovate is completely extinguished.”

7. “Punishing failure and “shooting the messenger” only cause people to hide their mistakes, and eventually, all desire to innovate is completely extinguished.”

Gene Kim Quote: “CIO stands for “Career Is Over.”

8. “CIO stands for “Career Is Over.”

Gene Kim Quote: “Unplanned work is what prevents you from doing it. Like matter and antimatter, in the presence of unplanned work, all planned work ignites with incandescent fury, incinerating everything around it.”

9. “Unplanned work is what prevents you from doing it. Like matter and antimatter, in the presence of unplanned work, all planned work ignites with incandescent fury, incinerating everything around it.”

Gene Kim Quote: “In any value stream, there is always a direction of flow, and there is always one and only constraint; any improvement not made at that constraint is an illusion.”

10. “In any value stream, there is always a direction of flow, and there is always one and only constraint; any improvement not made at that constraint is an illusion.”

Gene Kim Quote: “Situations like this only reinforce my deep suspicion of developers: They’re often carelessly breaking things and then disappearing, leaving Operations to clean up the mess.”

11. “Situations like this only reinforce my deep suspicion of developers: They’re often carelessly breaking things and then disappearing, leaving Operations to clean up the mess.”

Gene Kim Quote: “Being able to take needless work out of the system is more important than being able to put more work into the system.”

12. “Being able to take needless work out of the system is more important than being able to put more work into the system.”

Gene Kim Quote: “Goldratt taught us that in most plants, there are a very small number of resources, whether it’s men, machines, or materials, that dictates the output of the entire system. We call this the constraint – or bottleneck. Either.”

13. “Goldratt taught us that in most plants, there are a very small number of resources, whether it’s men, machines, or materials, that dictates the output of the entire system. We call this the constraint – or bottleneck. Either.”

Gene Kim Quote: “We need to create a culture that reinforces the value of taking risks and learning from failure and the need for repetition and practice to create mastery.”

14. “We need to create a culture that reinforces the value of taking risks and learning from failure and the need for repetition and practice to create mastery.”

Gene Kim Quote: “By relentless and constant experimentation in their daily work, they were able to continually increase capacity, often without adding any new equipment or hiring more people.”

15. “By relentless and constant experimentation in their daily work, they were able to continually increase capacity, often without adding any new equipment or hiring more people.”

Gene Kim Quote: “There should be absolutely no way that the Dev and QA environments don’t match the production environment.”

16. “There should be absolutely no way that the Dev and QA environments don’t match the production environment.”

Gene Kim Quote: “Something seems wrong in a world where half the e-mail messages sent are urgent. Can everything really be that important?”

17. “Something seems wrong in a world where half the e-mail messages sent are urgent. Can everything really be that important?”

Gene Kim Quote: “It’s difficult to overstate the enormity of this problem – it affects every organization, independent of the industry we operate in, the size of our organization, whether we are profit or non-profit. Now more than ever, how technology work is managed and performed predicts whether our organizations will win in the marketplace, or even survive.”

18. “It’s difficult to overstate the enormity of this problem – it affects every organization, independent of the industry we operate in, the size of our organization, whether we are profit or non-profit. Now more than ever, how technology work is managed and performed predicts whether our organizations will win in the marketplace, or even survive.”

Gene Kim Quote: “If you can’t out-experiment and beat your competitors in time to market and agility, you are sunk. Features are always a gamble. If you’re lucky, ten percent will get the desired benefits. So the faster you can get those features to market and test them, the better off you’ll be. Incidentally, you also pay back the business faster for the use of capital, which means the business starts making money faster, too.”

19. “If you can’t out-experiment and beat your competitors in time to market and agility, you are sunk. Features are always a gamble. If you’re lucky, ten percent will get the desired benefits. So the faster you can get those features to market and test them, the better off you’ll be. Incidentally, you also pay back the business faster for the use of capital, which means the business starts making money faster, too.”

Gene Kim Quote: “It’s not the upfront capital that kills you, it’s the operations and maintenance on the back end.”

20. “It’s not the upfront capital that kills you, it’s the operations and maintenance on the back end.”

Gene Kim Quote: “I’m starting to associate the smell of pizza with the futility of a death march.”

21. “I’m starting to associate the smell of pizza with the futility of a death march.”

Gene Kim Quote: “What made those teams great is that everyone trusted one another. It can be a powerful thing when that magic dynamic exists.”

22. “What made those teams great is that everyone trusted one another. It can be a powerful thing when that magic dynamic exists.”

Gene Kim Quote: “Trying to get a Phoenix build going is like playing Legend of Zelda, if it were written by a sadist, forcing her to adventure far and wide to find hidden keys scattered across the kingdom and given only measly clues from uncaring NPCs. But when you finally finish the level, you can’t actually play the next level – you have to mail paper coupons to the manufacturer and wait weeks to get the activation codes.”

23. “Trying to get a Phoenix build going is like playing Legend of Zelda, if it were written by a sadist, forcing her to adventure far and wide to find hidden keys scattered across the kingdom and given only measly clues from uncaring NPCs. But when you finally finish the level, you can’t actually play the next level – you have to mail paper coupons to the manufacturer and wait weeks to get the activation codes.”

Gene Kim Quote: “Brent. Brent, Brent, Brent! Can’t we do anything without him? Look at us! We’re trying to have a management discussion about commitments and resources, and all we do is talk about one guy! I don’t care how talented he is. If you’re telling me that our organization can’t do anything without him, we’ve got a big problem.” Wes.”

24. “Brent. Brent, Brent, Brent! Can’t we do anything without him? Look at us! We’re trying to have a management discussion about commitments and resources, and all we do is talk about one guy! I don’t care how talented he is. If you’re telling me that our organization can’t do anything without him, we’ve got a big problem.” Wes.”

Gene Kim Quote: “There’s a very real cognitive and spiritual burden of having to carry so many unfulfilled promises forever into the future, where anyone can ask at any time “Where is my feature?”

25. “There’s a very real cognitive and spiritual burden of having to carry so many unfulfilled promises forever into the future, where anyone can ask at any time “Where is my feature?”

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