gene-kim's blog post first articulating the three-ways framework — the conceptual backbone that organizes DevOps thinking into Flow, Feedback, and Continuous Learning. The date (2012-04-15) is approximate; the post appeared on the IT Revolution blog in 2012 before the-phoenix-project was published.
The Three Ways as First Stated
The First Way emphasizes the performance of the entire system, as opposed to the performance of a specific silo. The focus is on all business value streams that are enabled by IT — from Dev to Operations to the customer. The outcome of the First Way is left-to-right fast flow. Practices include continuous builds, continuous integration, and continuous deployment.
The Second Way is about creating the right-to-left feedback loops. The goal of almost any process improvement initiative is to shorten and amplify feedback loops so necessary corrections can be continually made. The outcome of the Second Way is an understanding of and response to all customers, internal and external.
The Third Way is about creating a culture that fosters two things: continual experimentation, taking risks and learning from failure; and understanding that repetition and practice is the prerequisite to mastery. The outcome of the Third Way is a culture where innovation and risk-taking are the norm and where anything is possible.
Intellectual Roots Acknowledged
Kim was explicit in the post about the intellectual lineage: the Three Ways are an adaptation of lean principles (First Way = flow/one-piece-flow; Second Way = jidoka and the andon cord; Third Way = kaizen and continuous improvement). The framing of "ways" echoes Toyota's concept of The Toyota Way.
Relationship to The Phoenix Project
The blog post preceded the-phoenix-project (2013) by about a year. The novel dramatized what the blog post had sketched conceptually. The Three Ways appear in the novel as lessons that the mentor character Erik teaches the protagonist — giving the abstract framework narrative form.
The post is the primary source for the Three Ways as a conceptual framework; the novel is the primary source for most practitioners' encounter with it.
Note on the ID
The entry id `the-goal-for-it` reflects an alternate title sometimes used for this post ("The Goal for IT"), acknowledging the explicit Goldratt connection. The canonical title is "The Three Ways."