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
Configure a Build vNext Agent
Learn how to set up a Build vNext Agent for Visual Studio Online or TFS 2015, including prerequisites, VM setup, agent configuration, and …
Creating nested teams in Visual Studio ALM
Learn how to set up and manage nested team structures in Visual Studio ALM and TFS using Area Paths or Team Fields for flexible project …
Why should I use Visual Studio ALM
Explains the benefits of Visual Studio ALM over alternatives like Git and Jenkins, detailing its comprehensive features for managing the …
Join a machine to your azure hosted domain controller
Learn how to connect a machine to an Azure-hosted domain controller by configuring virtual networks, DNS settings, and joining the domain …
Understanding TFS migrations from on-premise to Visual Studio Online
Explains key scenarios, challenges, and tools for migrating from on-premise TFS to Visual Studio Online, including project consolidation, …
Create log entries in Release Management
Explains how to generate and capture log entries in Release Management by using PowerShell's Write-Verbose with the -verbose flag, ensuring …
NDC London 2014: Why TFS no longer sucks and VSO is awesome
Overview of improvements in Team Foundation Server (TFS) and Visual Studio Online (VSO), including updated features, cloud integration, and …
Create a Release Management pipeline for Professional Developers
Step-by-step guide to building an automated Release Management pipeline for professional developers, covering build, deployment, environment …
Create a Standard Environment for Release Management in Azure
Step-by-step guide to setting up a standard Azure environment for Release Management, including VMs, storage, networking, and Application …
Configure a DNS server for an Azure Virtual Network
Learn how to set up a DNS server with a static IP for an Azure Virtual Network, enabling domain joining and name resolution for all …
Microsoft Surface 3 unable to boot from USB
Explains how to resolve Microsoft Surface 3 boot issues by renaming the USB drive to "BOOTME", a required but undocumented step for …
Move your Azure VM to a Virtual Network
Learn how to move an Azure virtual machine to a virtual network by deleting the VM, preserving its disks, and recreating it within the …
Configuring a DC in Azure for AAD integrated Release Management
Step-by-step guide to setting up a Domain Controller in Azure for Active Directory integration, including VM creation, configuration, and …
Installing Visual Studio 2015 side by side with 2013 on Windows 10
Step-by-step guide to installing Visual Studio 2015 alongside 2013 on Windows 10, including tips for avoiding common errors and ensuring …
Could not find mappings for all states defined in 'Test Suit' work item type
Explains how to resolve TFS 2013.3 errors caused by case-sensitive state names in custom Test Suite work items, affecting older clients and …
Use corporate identities with existing VSO accounts
Learn how to enable seamless single sign-on for Visual Studio Online by integrating corporate identities via Active Directory and Azure, …
TFS Build reports Licencies.licx: unable to load type
Explains how mismatched component versions in licences.licx files can cause build errors on TFS servers, and offers solutions for consistent …
Upcomming Scrum at Scale Workshop from Scrum.org
Learn how to scale Scrum across your organisation, drive cultural change, and measure agile maturity with evidence-based practices in this …
Reuse your MSDN benefits with your Org ID
Learn how to transfer MSDN benefits from a personal Microsoft ID to an organisational account by cancelling existing subscriptions and …
Uncommitted changes messing up your sync in Git with Visual Studio
Explains how uncommitted changes in Git can prevent syncing with the server in Visual Studio, and highlights key workflow differences from …
NDC London: Second Look, Team Foundation Server & VSO
Overview of a session at NDC London demonstrating new features in Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio Online, with end-to-end ALM demos …
Move an Azure storage blob to another store
Learn how to move a VHD blob between Azure storage accounts using PowerShell, including authentication steps and handling private containers …
Bug in the Visual Studio Git integration that results in a merge conflict
Explains a Visual Studio Git bug causing merge conflicts during pulls with local commits, its workaround, and best practices for managing …
Creating training virtual machines in Azure
Step-by-step guide to uploading, configuring, and deploying multiple training virtual machines in Azure using PowerShell, including …
Bruce Lee on Scrum and Agile
Explores how Bruce Lee’s philosophy applies to Scrum and Agile, emphasising adaptability, simplicity, and creating flexible, tailored …
Agility and Windows 10: Upgrading my Surface Pro 2
A first-hand account of upgrading a Surface Pro 2 to Windows 10 Technical Preview, exploring Microsoft’s shift to agile development and …
Install of TFS 2013.3 with SharePoint 2013 on Windows Server 2012 R2 Update 1
Step-by-step guide to installing TFS 2013.3 with SharePoint 2013 on Windows Server 2012 R2, covering prerequisites, configuration, …
Yorkhill Ice Bucket Challenge
A personal account of taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to support Yorkhill Children's Charity, highlighting a family’s experience with …
Migrating source from Perforce to Git on VSO
Step-by-step guide to migrating source code from Perforce to Git on VSO, covering repository setup, dependency management, build processes, …
You can't use WITADMIN on versions older than TFS 2010
Explains troubleshooting WITADMIN errors with TFS versions, highlighting the need for TFS 2010 SP1 or newer for compatibility with work item …
Avoid the Bug as Task anti-pattern in Azure DevOps
Explains why treating bugs as tasks in Azure DevOps is an anti-pattern, its impact on transparency, quality, and planning, and offers …
Merge Team Projects into one in TFS
Step-by-step guide to merging multiple TFS Team Projects into one, covering TFS Integration Tools setup, configuration, work item and source …
Maven release perform tries to do a Get to a workspace sub folder in TFS
Explains issues with Maven release perform in TFS workspaces, causes of build failures, and solutions for workspace mapping, concurrency, …
Avoid the pick-n-mix branching anti-pattern
Explains the risks of the pick-n-mix branching anti-pattern in source control, its impact on code quality, and recommends feature branching …
The value of an independent Scotland for me
Personal reflections on Scottish independence, exploring self-determination, media bias, economic control, immigration, and the long-term …
Maven release prepare fails with detected changes in Jenkins
Explains how to fix Maven release prepare failures in Jenkins with TFS by using .tfignore files to exclude generated files like …
Traveling for work and the Dell Venue 8
A review of switching to the Dell Venue 8 Pro for frequent business travel, covering device performance, workflow changes, and practical …
How to delete work items from TFS or VSO
Explains how to permanently delete work items from TFS or VSO using witadmin or C# code, including safety tips and batch deletion for large …
Run a router on Hyper-V
Guide to running router firmware in a Hyper-V VM for reliable DHCP and internet access on restrictive networks, avoiding MAC/IP limits and …
Getting a service account for VSO with TFS Service Credential Viewer
Learn how to use TFS Service Credential Viewer to generate service accounts for Visual Studio Online, enabling secure, automated access …
TFS Process Template migration script updated
Provides a step-by-step PowerShell script for migrating and updating TFS process templates, including customisations, work item types, …
Access denied user needs label permission in TFS
Explains how to resolve "Access denied user needs label permission" errors in TFS by adjusting label permissions at the root folder to allow …
Import Excel data into TFS with History
Step-by-step guide to importing Excel data into TFS with full history, using VBA to format records as HTML tables for the History field and …
Mask password in Jenkins when calling TEE
Learn how to securely mask passwords in Jenkins logs when using Team Explorer Everywhere (TEE), preventing sensitive credentials from being …
Configuring Jenkins to talk to TFS 2013
Guide to integrating Jenkins with TFS 2013 using the Team Foundation Server plugin, covering installation, configuration, and key …
Migrating to office 365 from Google Mail
Step-by-step guide to migrating emails and data from Google Mail to Office 365, covering IMAP, POP, and PowerShell methods, plus challenges …
Be a kid again and upgrade to Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview
Guide to upgrading to Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview, including key features, app recommendations, update steps, and known issues for …
Blogging from 2500 meters
A personal account of blogging from the French Alps, discussing challenges of writing and publishing posts using OneNote, Word, and limited …
Using multiple email alias with your existing Microsoft ID
Learn how to add, manage, and switch multiple email aliases on a single Microsoft ID, simplifying account access and reducing the need for …
Does your organisation have both Project Mangers as well as Product Owners?
Explores the challenges of having both Project Managers and Product Owners in teams, highlighting conflicts, reporting issues, and impacts …