Gene Kim’s Three Ways are principles for improving how work moves through an organization: optimize flow across the whole system, shorten feedback loops so teams can respond, and learn through deliberate experimentation and practice. They are values and ways of thinking—not a required set of tools, org chart, or deployment schedule.
What are the Three Ways of DevOps?
Gene Kim describes the Three Ways as “the values and philosophies that frame the processes, procedures, and practices of DevOps”: flow and systems thinking, amplifying feedback loops, and a culture of continual experimentation and learning. Kim’s article, published August 22, 2012, presents them as connected principles rather than a prescribed implementation.
First Way: improve flow through the whole system
The First Way asks teams to optimize the complete path from identifying a requirement through development and IT operations to delivering value to a customer. A team can appear productive locally while creating delays or defects elsewhere; systems thinking means judging work by its effect on the whole value stream.
For example, a development team that passes a known defect downstream may cause operations staff to spend time diagnosing or containing it, delaying other changes and affecting service to customers. Likewise, a queue or handoff can make work wait even when the teams on either side are busy. These are illustrations of how local decisions can affect the wider system.
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- Do not pass a known defect downstream.
- Do not let local optimization degrade the overall system.
- Continually look for ways to increase flow.
- Develop a deep understanding of how the system works.
Second Way: amplify feedback loops
The Second Way moves useful information back toward the people who can act on it. Kim describes the aim as shortening and amplifying feedback so necessary corrections can happen continually. Feedback may come from customers or from the running service and its operations.
For instance, when a service problem or recurring user need becomes visible, the signal is useful only if it reaches the relevant people in time to inform a development or delivery decision. Faster, clearer feedback can help teams understand internal and external customers, respond to their needs, and make knowledge available where it is needed. The principle does not prescribe a particular monitoring, incident-management, or customer-feedback product.
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- Understand and respond to internal and external customers.
- Shorten and amplify feedback loops.
- Embed knowledge where it is needed.
Third Way: learn through experimentation and practice
The Third Way treats improvement as ongoing work. Teams make deliberate experiments, learn from outcomes—including failures—and use what they learn to improve the next change. Repetition and practice matter because mastery develops over time.
Kim associates this Way with allocating time to improve daily work, creating rituals that reward risk-taking, and introducing faults into a system to increase resilience. These practices are about controlled learning, not failure for its own sake or uncontrolled risk: an experiment should help people understand how the system behaves and what to improve.
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How the Three Ways work together
The principles reinforce one another. The First Way helps work and value move through the whole system. The Second Way carries information back across that system so teams can correct problems and respond to needs. The Third Way turns experience into better daily practice and greater resilience over time.
| Principle | Question to ask | What it emphasizes |
|---|---|---|
| First Way: flow | Where is work getting stuck, or where might a local decision harm the wider system? | End-to-end value, systems understanding, and fewer delays or downstream defects. |
| Second Way: feedback | How quickly does useful information reach the people who can act on it? | Short, clear feedback from customers and operations to relevant decision-makers. |
| Third Way: learning | How does experience become improved practice and resilience? | Deliberate experiments, practice, and continual improvement. |
For a fuller treatment, The DevOps Handbook, Second Edition includes dedicated chapters on each of the Three Ways, alongside material on Agile and Continuous Delivery.
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