The strongest articles on engineering excellence and technical leadership — ranked by substance, not recency. How this is ranked
Engineering as a Leadership System: Moving Beyond Frameworks
Delivery outcomes are shaped less by frameworks and practices than by the operating model leaders have designed. How an organisation's …
Why Most Companies Operating Models Fail in Dynamic Markets
A concise comparison of Predictive and Adaptive Operating Models, explaining why traditional structures fail in dynamic markets and how …
Telling People What to Do Is Not Leadership. It’s a Failure of System Design
Explores why real leadership means designing systems that enable team autonomy, flow, and accountability, rather than relying on …
The AI Decided Is Not an Explanation
When an AI says it got bored or we say it lied, we give a machine feelings and intentions. The false output needs an explanation, not an …
AI Agents Lie About Being Done
My agent reported every task complete when half the tests were missing. Call that a lie if you like. The engineering problem is that the …
Don’t Manage Dependencies, Remove Them
Explains why dependencies are a sign of poor system design and outlines steps to eliminate them by aligning teams, clarifying ownership, and …
The Estimation Trap: How Tracking Accuracy Undermines Trust, Flow, and Value in Software Delivery
Tracking estimation accuracy in software delivery leads to mistrust, fear, and distorted behaviours. Focus on customer value, flow, and …
Is Agile Really Just a Mindset?
Explores Agile as a disciplined system of delivery, emphasizing engineering excellence, CI/CD, observability, and system design over mindset …
Stop Building Silos. Start Building Systems
Explains how fragmented automation and tool silos harm software delivery, and advocates for unified engineering systems and platform …
890 resources, newest first
Database corruption in TFS 2005 causes TF246017 during upgrade
Explains how database corruption in TFS 2005 can cause TF246017 errors during upgrade, and details using DBCC CHECKDB to diagnose and repair …
Team Foundation Server 2010 Event Handling with Subscribers
Explains how to create and deploy server-side event subscribers in Team Foundation Server 2010 using the ISubscriber interface to handle and …
Calculating the Rank of your blog posts or pages
Explains how to calculate and rank blog posts or pages using data like comments, social shares, and Google PageRank to identify popular or …
How to deal with a stuck or infinitely queued build
Learn how to identify, troubleshoot, and resolve stuck or infinitely queued builds in Team Foundation Build, including tips for monitoring …
A change for the better #3 - SSW to Northwest Cadence
Reflects on lessons learned at SSW in software process, technology, and communication, and details a career move to an ALM consultant role …
Running Android 2.2 (Frodo) on your HD2
Guide to installing and running Android 2.2 (Froyo) on the HTC HD2, including setup steps, troubleshooting tips, and advice for optimising …
Rangers shipped Visual Studio 2010 Database Guide
Comprehensive guidance and hands-on labs for managing, testing, and deploying Visual Studio 2010 Database projects, including source control …
Commit to Visual Studio ALM on Area51
Details the progress of the Visual Studio ALM StackExchange proposal on Area51, outlining voting, commitment stages, and how users can help …
Active Directory Groups not Syncing with Team Foundation Server 2010
Explains why Active Directory groups may not sync with Team Foundation Server 2010, how to diagnose sync issues, and steps to resolve …
TFS Event Handler for Team Foundation Server 2010
Explains how to create and customise event handlers for Team Foundation Server 2010, covering supported events for version control, builds, …
The search for a single point of truth
Explores methods and tools for syncing contacts across multiple services, aiming to maintain a single, up-to-date source without duplicates …
Changing the Team Project Collection of the Team Build Controller
Explains how to reconfigure a Team Build Controller in TFS 2010 to connect to a different Team Project Collection using the Administration …
SSW Brain Quest: Team Foundation Server and SharePoint 2010 (London)
Full-day training covering new features and best practices in Visual Studio 2010, Team Foundation Server 2010, and SharePoint 2010 for …
Professional Scrum Developer (.NET) Training in London
Intensive five-day course for software developers covering Scrum, Visual Studio 2010, .NET, and Agile practices through hands-on team …
Flashing your Windows Phone 6 for Dummies
Step-by-step guide to safely flashing custom ROMs on Windows Phone 6 devices, including key terms, risks, tools, and links to resources for …
Ghost build controllers in Team Foundation Server
Learn how to identify and remove undeletable ghost build controllers in Team Foundation Server by updating build status in the database, …
Why you need to tag your build servers in TFS
Tagging build servers in TFS helps manage dependencies, assign builds to suitable agents, and streamline workflows across teams and regions …
Kaiden and the Arachnoid Cyst
A personal account of Kaiden’s early development, delayed walking, and medical journey following the discovery of an arachnoid cyst, with …
Guidance: How to layout you files for an Ideal Solution
Learn best practices for organising solution and project files in version control, including folder structure, naming conventions, and …
Scrum with Team Foundation Server 2010 Done
Explains how to use Scrum with Team Foundation Server 2010 for better project management, including practical tips, presentation slides, and …
Integrate SharePoint 2010 with Team Foundation Server 2010
Step-by-step guide to integrating SharePoint 2010 with Team Foundation Server 2010, including installation, configuration, permissions, and …
Upgrading Team Foundation Server 2008 to 2010
Step-by-step guide to upgrading Team Foundation Server 2008 to 2010, covering database backup, migration, verification, compatibility, and …
Even Scrum should have detailed Task descriptions
Scrum tasks should include detailed descriptions so anyone can complete them, ensuring project continuity if team members are unavailable or …
LinkedIn Woopsie with the Outlook 2010 Social Media Connector
Describes an account suspension caused by LinkedIn's Outlook 2010 connector triggering automated activity, and how LinkedIn support quickly …
Combining Scrum, TFS2010 and Email to keep everyone in the loop
Explains how to integrate Scrum, TFS 2010, and email to share task details, maintain history, and keep all stakeholders informed throughout …
Silverlight 4, MVVM and Test-Driven Development
Learn how to use Silverlight 4 and the MVVM pattern for test-driven development, including refactoring, dependency injection, and building …
Guidance: A Branching strategy for Scrum Teams
Explains an effective branching strategy for Scrum teams, covering best practices, common pitfalls, and step-by-step guidance for managing …
Do you know when to send a done email in Scrum?
Explains when and how to send done emails in Scrum, detailing best practices for notifying task owners and teams, and ensuring clear …
Do you have a contract between the Product Owner and the Team?
Explains the benefits of a Sprint Contract in Scrum, clarifying roles and agreements between Product Owner and Team to improve collaboration …
Upgrading from TFS 2010 RC to TFS 2010 RTM done
Step-by-step guide to upgrading from TFS 2010 RC to RTM, including backup, uninstall, install, configuration, SharePoint and build server …
Upgrading Visual Studio 2010
Step-by-step guide to uninstalling Visual Studio 2010 RC and installing the RTM version, including tips for a full install and …
Scrum for Team Foundation Server 2010
Learn how to implement Scrum practices using Team Foundation Server 2010 and Visual Studio ALM, including project planning, backlog …
Guidance - Branching for each Sprint
Explains how using a separate version control branch for each sprint in Scrum improves code stability, release management, and team …
Scottish Visual Studio 2010 Launch event with Jason Zander
Microsoft’s Edinburgh event features Jason Zander presenting Visual Studio 2010 updates, including Windows, Web, Cloud, and ALM tools for …
Scott Guthrie in Glasgow
Scott Guthrie presented new features in Visual Studio 2010, Silverlight 4, ASP.NET MVC 2, and Windows Phone 7 during his Glasgow tour, with …
Who broke the build?
Explains the importance of passing builds, common causes of build failures, how to identify issues and responsible users, and best practices …
Do you know the minimum builds to create on any branch?
Explains the essential three build types, Gate, CI, and Nightly, needed per branch to ensure code quality, test coverage, and collaboration …
Do you know that every user story should have an owner?
Assigning an owner to each user story in Scrum ensures clear responsibility, better communication, and accountability throughout the sprint …
Adventures in Scrum: Lesson 2 - For the record
Highlights the importance of clear communication and documenting disagreements in Scrum to prevent misunderstandings and failed sprints, …
Adventures in Scrum: Lesson 1 – The failed Sprint
Explores common pitfalls in early Scrum adoption, highlighting why full team involvement in sprint planning is crucial and lessons learned …
When should I use Areas in TFS instead of Team Projects in Team Foundation Server 2010
Explains when to use Areas versus Team Projects in TFS 2010, comparing benefits, drawbacks, and best practices for managing multiple …
MVVM for Dummies
Explains the MVVM pattern in WPF and Silverlight, highlighting separation of concerns, code structure, and the roles of commanding, …
Finding the problem on a partially succeeded build on Team Foundation Build Services 2010
Learn how to diagnose and resolve partially succeeded builds in Team Foundation Build Services 2010 by tracing test failures, identifying …
Microsoft, please help me diagnose TFS Administration permission issues!
Troubleshooting TFS 2010 admin permission errors caused by not running TfsConfig as administrator, despite correct group memberships and …
Solution: Testing Web Services with MSTest on Team Foundation Build Services 2010
Explains how to configure MSTest for automated testing of web services on Team Foundation Build Services 2010, including handling dynamic …
Solution: Getting Silverlight to build on Team Foundation Build Services 2010
Step-by-step guide to resolving build failures when compiling Silverlight 3 projects with Team Foundation Build Services 2010, including …
Upgrading from TFS 2010 Beta 2 to TFS 2010 RC done
Step-by-step guide to upgrading from TFS 2010 Beta 2 to TFS 2010 RC, including best practices, troubleshooting tips, and post-upgrade checks …
Why I miss Orange and why Vodafone suck!
A personal account comparing poor Vodafone customer service with positive experiences at Orange, highlighting issues with account access, …
Solution - IIS SMTP Service 5.5.2 rejected: need fully qualified hostname
Explains how to resolve IIS SMTP error 5.5.2 by configuring a fully qualified domain name, ensuring outgoing emails are accepted by …
Solution - SEO permanent redirects for old URL’s?
Explains how to set up SEO-friendly permanent redirects for old URLs to new ones in ASP.NET, covering best practices and code examples for …