At the beginning of the novel, Palmer and Masters seem to share an unhealthy view of IT Operations as a background process, something that should always work and never need discussion. Parts Unlimited neglects IT, as reflected in the IT workspace, which Palmer describes as “built in the 1950s, and last remodeled in the 1970s…It looks old and neglected” (28). The building, like IT Operations, is not the center of Masters’s attention, and he even describes IT as a “toilet,” adding, “I don’t ever worry about it not working” (20). This perspective devalues IT as a “competency” that Masters later understands is critical to Parts Unlimited and all modern businesses. The Phoenix Project, while focusing on DevOps and the Three Ways, also reveals the importance of IT in the contemporary business sphere, marking technology as the most important path to relevance in a modern market.

When Masters realizes the error of his ways, he retracts his comparison of IT to plumbing, noting, “IT is not a department that I can delegate away. IT is smack in the middle of every major company effort we have and is critical to almost every aspect of daily operations” (211). He now understands that although IT is ever-present, much like plumbing, it is also an avenue to greater success in the business.