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 …
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 …
How to Build for Business Resilience and Continuity
Learn key strategies for building business resilience and continuity, including observability, system decoupling, routine deployments, team …
889 resources, newest first
Linked in Codeplex developers group
Join LinkedIn groups for Codeplex developers and coordinators. Membership requires a Codeplex account and project involvement. Profile …
Post Event: MSDN Roadshow (Glasgow)
Insights from the MSDN Roadshow in Glasgow, covering ADO.NET Entity Framework, Data Services, Silverlight 2, and Team Suite, plus event …
Post event: Developer Day Scotland
Highlights from Developer Day Scotland, featuring sessions on ADO.NET Data Services, anti-patterns, continuous integration, and test-driven …
Assembly Version does not change in Visual Basic Workflow projects
Explains a Visual Basic compiler bug where assembly version numbers do not update after rebuilding, affecting Workflow and other projects, …
Another day another Codeplex Project
Explores extending SharePoint Designer with custom workflow activities from CodePlex, highlighting solutions for user profile lookups beyond …
Major deadline
A critical SharePoint migration project faces urgent deadlines after performance issues, requiring rapid deployment of a new MOSS portal to …
Vote for your feature
Vote for upcoming TFS Sticky Buddy features, view current suggestions, and submit your own ideas to help shape future updates for this .NET …
Kerberos problems
Addresses Kerberos double hop authentication issues in workplace networks, with links to resources on Kerberos basics and troubleshooting …
TFS Sticky Buddy v1.0
Graphical tool for viewing, navigating, and managing TFS Work Items with customisable templates. Built in VB.NET and WPF; requires .NET 3.5 …
End of another Sticky week
Update on TFS Sticky Buddy: new support for connecting to external TFS servers, project loading, and customisable skins for different Team …
TFS Stick Buddy v0.4.0 CTP2 released
TFS Stick Buddy v0.4.0 CTP2 lets you customise and display TFS work items by query, with colour-coded states and support for Visual Studio …
TFS Sticky Buddy v0.3.1 CTP1
Preview release of a WPF-based dashboard for Team Foundation Server, showing Areas and Iterations as diagrams; early version with limited …
Bug in ObservableCollection?
Explains issues using ObservableCollection with generic types in .NET, why errors occur, and discusses workarounds and limitations when …
Creating a better TFS Sticky Buddy (Core)
Explains building a flexible WPF data model in VB.NET for visualising hierarchical relationships using generics, ObservableCollections, and …
Developer joins TFS Sticky Buddy project
A new developer, Eric Willeke, has joined the TFS Sticky Buddy project team, bringing experience as a tester to help improve and advance the …
What the 0x80072020?
Explains the 0x80072020 error in .NET 3.5 PrincipalContext when using ASP.NET impersonation with Active Directory, its cause, and security …
Loss of My.User.Name is not that bad
Explains how to access and manage user and security information in .NET applications using System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement …
Waffling on SharePoint
Discusses the challenges of creating non-technical SharePoint documentation for business users, highlighting the platform’s flexibility and …
TFS Sticky Buddy POC (WPF) release
Proof of concept release of a WPF-based Team Foundation Server dashboard app, including source code. Requires .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio …
TFS Sticky Buddy POC (WinForms) release
Proof of concept Windows Forms dashboard for Team Foundation Server, including source code. Requires .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008 Team …
TFS Sticky Buddy layout fun
A developer shares challenges and insights from building a TFS Sticky Buddy UI in WinForms and WPF, comparing layout issues and ease of use …
TFS Sticky Buddy Codeplex project
Open source tool for visualising Team Foundation Server project status, showing work items, assignments, and progress in real time on large …
I always wanted to be an Admiral!
A personal reflection on taking a Battlestar Galactica character quiz after finishing season 3, sharing excitement and anticipation for the …
Setting up SharePoint for the Enterprise
Guidance on deploying SharePoint for global enterprises, including architecture considerations and best practices for multi-country user …
Installing MOSS 2007 from scratch
Step-by-step guide to installing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 from a clean environment, including prerequisites, SQL setup, …
Kerberos and SharePoint 2007
Explains how to configure Kerberos authentication for SharePoint 2007 by setting Service Principal Names (SPNs) in Active Directory for each …
Connecting to SQL Server using DNS update
Explains how updating DNS and Service Principal Names (SPNs) in Active Directory enables secure Windows Authentication connections to SQL …
Connecting to SQL Server using DNS
Explains how to enable Windows Authentication for SQL Server connections via DNS by configuring the SQL Server Browser service and setting …
The SharePoint Plan: Database move headache mitigation
Guidance on moving SharePoint SQL Server databases to a new server using DNS redirection, aiming to simplify migration and minimise downtime …
New Event Handlers
Adds two event handlers for TFS: one emails users when assigned a work item, the other notifies users when work is reassigned. Includes …
TFS Event Handler (Prototype) Refresh
Bug fixes and updates for the TFS Event Handler Prototype, now supporting .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008. Includes installer refresh and …
TFS Event Handler CTP 2 Released
CTP 2 of TFS Event Handler is now available, offering updated executables and source code for managing Team Foundation Server events. …
TFS Event Handler CTP1 Released
Early release of a TFS Event Handler tool for managing server events, requiring manual setup and not production-ready; includes a basic …
Removing ACL's for dead AD accounts
Explains how to identify and remove access control entries (ACLs) for deleted Active Directory accounts using .NET, including challenges and …
Get your Twitter feed as a badge on your email!
Learn how to display your Twitter feed as a badge using HTML and FeedBurner, making it easy to share live updates in emails or on any web …
Community-Credit feedback
Suggestions for improving Community Credit, including category management, privacy for user profiles, SEO, faster page loads, moderation …
Unique ID in SharePoint list
SharePoint lists include a built-in unique, auto-generated ID column. Enable its display in list settings to show unique IDs for each item …
TFS Event Handler Revisited
Discusses updating a TFS Event Handler prototype for Visual Studio 2008 and Team Foundation Server 2008, highlighting challenges with code …
Xbox Live to Twitter Update (v0.2.3)
An updated tool that posts Xbox Live status updates to Twitter, with plans for customisation options and achievement tracking. Source code …
Returning an Anonymous type
Explains how to return and use anonymous types from functions in VB.NET, highlighting late binding, Option Strict settings, and limitations …
My first Extension method
Explains how to create and use extension methods in VB.NET, with an example for enhancing the XboxInfo class to display and track Xbox Live …
I always like a good Serenity plug
Find out which Serenity character you resemble most with quiz results, including detailed character match percentages and a brief …
Xbox Live To Twitter
Guide to connecting your Xbox Live gamertag to Twitter using a custom application, including troubleshooting tips and links to source code …
SharePoint 3.0 and MOSS 2007 Service Pack 1 Update
Guidance on resolving SharePoint 3.0 and MOSS 2007 Service Pack 1 installation errors, including database version issues and solutions using …
Festive holiday studying
A personal update on holiday plans, family time, Xbox gaming, and learning WPF for .NET development, with reflections on SharePoint and …
No love between McAfee Enterprise and MOSS 2007
Explains how McAfee antivirus can cause search errors in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, highlighting compatibility issues and the …
Installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Step-by-step guide to downloading, unpacking, and troubleshooting the installation of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) …
Installing The 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 1 (SP1) ...Again
Documents the installation issues and error logs encountered when applying Microsoft Office Servers 2007 SP1, including timeout exceptions …
MOSS SP1 Install Notes
Step-by-step notes for installing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 1, including prerequisites, download links, and key …
Silverlight cream, kinda, but it is interesting!
Explores Microsoft's use of Silverlight in its downloads site beta, comparing it to Flash, and discusses early adoption and internal testing …