Gene Kim

Gene Kim is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, chief technology officer, and recognized leader in technology management and DevOps. Kim has studied high-performing technology organizations since 1999 and served as founder and CTO of Tripwire, an enterprise security software company, for 13 years. He developed the original version of Tripwire as an undergraduate at Purdue University during an independent study project. Kim’s career spans entrepreneurship, research, and authorship, with a focus on understanding the factors that drive success and failure in technology organizations.

Kim’s books have sold over 1 million copies. He is the author of "The Unicorn Project" and "The Phoenix Project" graphic novels, and co-author of "The Phoenix Project," "The DevOps Handbook," "Vibe Coding," and the Shingo Publication Award-winning books "Accelerate" and "Wiring the Winning Organization." In "The Unicorn Project," Kim introduces the Five Ideals—Locality and Simplicity; Focus, Flow, and Joy; Improvement of Daily Work; Psychological Safety; and Customer Focus—a framework that has influenced how technology and business leaders approach developer productivity and organizational transformation.

Kim collaborated with Dr. Nicole Forsgren and Jez Humble on the State of DevOps Research, a cross-population study with more than 36,000 respondents. This research identified the technical practices, architectural approaches, and cultural norms that characterize high-performing technology organizations. In "Wiring the Winning Organization," co-authored with Dr. Steven Spear, Kim connects technical practices to organizational outcomes, drawing on lean manufacturing, W. Edwards Deming, and systems thinking to explain the effectiveness of DevOps at the organizational level.

Since 2014, Kim has organized the DevOps Enterprise Summit, now known as the Enterprise Technology Leadership Summit and Enterprise AI Summit, focusing on technology transformation in large, complex organizations. He also hosts "The Idealcast," a podcast featuring in-depth interviews on technology leadership, DevOps, and organizational change. Kim explores the impact of artificial intelligence on software development and organizational structures in "Vibe Coding: Building Production-Grade Software With GenAI, Chat, Agents, and Beyond," examining the shift toward AI-generated code and human supervision.

Kim has been recognized by ComputerWorld on the "40 Innovative IT People to Watch Under the Age of 40" list and was named a Computer Science Outstanding Alumnus by Purdue University. His books have been translated into more than 15 languages. Through his writing, research, and convening of technology leaders, Kim contributes to the ongoing conversation about how organizations can leverage technology, DevOps, and AI to remain competitive and drive transformation.