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
Windows 8.1 Preview Issue - The update is not applicable to your computer
Explains how to fix the "The update is not applicable to your computer" error when installing Windows 8.1 Preview, including region settings …
Customise the colours in Team Foundation Server 2013 Agile Planning Tools
Learn how to change work item colours in TFS 2013 Agile Planning Tools by editing the Process Configuration XML file and updating hex colour …
Issue [ TFS 2013 Preview ] TF400654: Unable to configure Planning Tools
Explains how to resolve TF400654 errors in TFS 2013 Preview by updating process templates to ensure custom fields exist in all required work …
Upgrading to Visual Studio Scrum 3.0 process template in TFS 2013
Learn how to fully upgrade your Team Foundation Server 2013 projects to the Visual Studio Scrum 3.0 process template, including steps for …
Configure features in Team Foundation Server 2013
Learn how to enable and configure new features in Team Foundation Server 2013 after upgrading, including using the built-in wizard and …
Upgrading to Team Foundation Server 2013
Step-by-step guide to upgrading to Team Foundation Server 2013, including backup, installation, configuration, validation, and estimated …
Installing Visual Studio 2013 on Server 2012
Step-by-step guide to installing Visual Studio 2013 alongside Visual Studio 2012 on Windows Server 2012, covering setup, disk space, login, …
What's new in Visual Studio 2013 Team Foundation Server Preview
Highlights new features in Visual Studio 2013 Team Foundation Server, including agile portfolio management, enhanced team collaboration, and …
Engaging with complexity - SharePoint Edition
Step-by-step guide to consolidating and upgrading multiple SharePoint 2010 sites to SharePoint 2013, including database migration, firewall …
Creating a Work Item with defaults in Team Foundation Server
Learn how to pre-populate Team Foundation Server work items with default values using template URLs, making it easier for users to create …
Issue [ TFS 2012.2 ] Detaching collection fails on SnapshotIdentities with object reference not set to an instance of an object
Explains how detaching a Team Project Collection in TFS 2012.x can fail due to orphaned identities, causing a NullReferenceException, and …
Issue [ TFS2012.2 ] TF30063 You are not authorized to access
Explains how a bug in TFS 2012.2 causes TF30063 authorisation errors after moving servers, and how updating to TFS 2012.3 resolves the …
SharePoint 2013 Issue - After migration from 2010 user permission not working
After migrating from SharePoint 2010 to 2013, users may face permission and authentication issues due to changes in claims-based …
SharePoint 2013 Issue - Custom Web Part results in Could not load file or assembly after upgrade
Explains how to resolve SharePoint 2013 errors loading custom web parts after upgrading from 2010, using site reset or SharePoint Designer …
TFS 2012.3 Issue - Scheduled Backups gives a TF400998 when reconfigured
After migrating TFS 2012/2013 servers, Scheduled Backups may fail with TF400998 errors due to outdated server references. Disabling and …
Writing .NET in PowerShell and creating TFS Teams
Learn how to use PowerShell to access .NET objects and automate creating Teams in TFS, including referencing assemblies, handling dialogs, …
Restore TFS backups from SQL Enterprise to SQL Express
Explains how to resolve errors when restoring TFS backups from SQL Enterprise to SQL Express by removing unsupported data compression …
Remote Execute PowerShell against each Windows 8 VM
Explains how to automate running PowerShell scripts on each Windows 8 VM in Hyper-V, including starting VMs, handling credentials, and …
Enable Feedback support for users in Team Foundation Server 2012
Learn how to configure email and permissions in Team Foundation Server 2012 to enable user feedback, including group setup and access …
Quality enablement with Visual Studio 2012
Explores how Visual Studio 2012 supports continuous quality enablement, automated testing, and rapid delivery in modern software development …
TFS Integration Tools - Issue: unable to find a unique local path
Explains how to resolve the “unable to find a unique local path” error in TFS Integration Tools during source control migration, including …
Configure Test Plans for web access in TFS 2012.2
Explains how to configure Test Plans for web access in TFS 2012.2, focusing on Area Path, team field settings, visibility issues, and …
TFS2012.2 - Issue: Object not set to instance of object with TF400898, TF53010 & TF30065
Explains causes and solutions for "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" errors (TF400898, TF53010, TF30065) in TFS 2012.2, …
TFS 2012 Issue: Get Workspace already exists connecting with VS 2008 or VS 2010
Explains how to resolve the "workspace already exists" error when connecting Visual Studio 2008 or 2010 to TFS 2012 by manually creating a …
Naked ALM: starting with why and getting naked
Explores the importance of understanding purpose in Application Lifecycle Management, focusing on transparency, customer value, and …
Release Management with Team Foundation Server 2012
Explains how to automate and streamline software release management using Team Foundation Server 2012, Lab Management, and Octopus, focusing …
Upgrading your process template from MSF for Agile 4 to Visual Studio Scrum 2.x
Step-by-step guide to safely upgrade from MSF for Agile 4 to Visual Studio Scrum 2.x process templates in TFS, including handling …
New un-versioned repository in TFS 2012
Explains how TFS 2012 introduced an un-versioned repository for build outputs, reducing version control clutter and offering easier storage …
TFS 2012 Issue: TF215097 an error occurred while initializing a build for build definition
Explains the TF215097 error in TFS 2012 builds, its cause, missing custom assemblies, and how to resolve it by configuring the build …
Migration from TF Service to TF Server with the TFS Integration Platform
Guide to migrating data from Team Foundation Service to Team Foundation Server using the TFS Integration Platform, including user and work …
Working within a single Team Project with Team Foundation Server 2012
Explains how to organise teams, products, and projects within a single Team Project in Team Foundation Server 2012, covering design, …
Reserve an Agent for a special build in Team Foundation Server 2012
Explains how to reserve a build agent in Team Foundation Server 2012 using custom activities, agent tagging, and workflow changes to ensure …
Connect a Test Controller to Team Foundation Service
Explains how to install and configure a Test Controller to connect with Team Foundation Service for automated deployment and testing in …
The Insufficiency of Scrum is a fallacy
Scrum alone does not cause project failure; lacking strong engineering practices and effective retrospectives leads to technical debt and …
Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 supports 2010 Build Servers
Explains how Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 and later let you use existing 2010 Build Servers with newer TFS, easing upgrades without workflow …
Batched domain migration with TFS while maintaining Identity
Explains how to batch migrate users between domains in TFS 2012 while preserving user identities, avoiding duplicates, and maintaining …
Migrating source code with history to TFS 2012 with Git-Tf
Guide to migrating source code and preserving history from one Team Foundation Server (TFS) 2012 instance to another using Git-Tf and Git …
Standard Environments for Automated Deployment and Testing
Explains how to set up and use Standard Environments in Visual Studio 2012 TFS for automated software deployment and testing, enabling …
Lab Management Issue: Enable File and Printer Sharing for Lab Management Standard Environments
Learn how to resolve connectivity issues in Visual Studio Lab Management by enabling File and Printer Sharing on Windows 8 and Windows …
Windows 8 Issue: Unable to connect to the internet with Hyper-V domain joined guest running on WiFi
Fixes internet connectivity issues for Hyper-V domain-joined guests on Windows 8 WiFi by configuring all features in the Network Bridge …
Chicago Visual Studio ALM User Group 27th March
Demonstration of new Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 features, including Kanban columns, work item tags, and managing teams without areas, at a …
Windows Server 2012 Core for dummies
Step-by-step guide to setting up and managing Windows Server 2012 Core using command-line tools, covering remote access, updates, …
Guide to ChangeServerId says mostly harmless
Explains when and why to use ChangeServerId in TFS, potential issues from duplicate GUIDs, and how to resolve errors using RegisterDB after …
Improvements in Visual Studio ALM from the ALM Summit
Highlights new Visual Studio ALM features from the ALM Summit, including Git support, web-based test management, Kanban swim lanes, and …
The TFS Automation Platform is dead, long live the TfPlugable
Explores the shift from TFS Automation Platform to TfPlugable, aiming to simplify discovery, deployment, and management of Team Foundation …
Upgrading to Team Foundation Server 2012 Update 1 in production – DONE
Step-by-step guide to upgrading Team Foundation Server 2012 to Update 1, including prerequisites, backup, disk space, configuration, …
TFS 2012 Update 1 - TF400432 We were unable to connect to the SharePoint Central Administration
Explains how to resolve TF400432 errors during TFS 2012 Update 1 upgrades by correcting mismatched SharePoint Central Administration port …
Teams without areas using a team field in TFS
Explains how to configure TFS to manage teams using a custom team field instead of area paths, enabling flexible team-product assignments …
Quality Centre to Team Foundation Server in one complex step
Compares tools for migrating or synchronising data from HP Quality Centre to Team Foundation Server, outlining features, limitations, and …
TFS 2012 Update 1 - TF255430: the database was partially upgraded during a failed upgrade
Explains how to resolve Team Foundation Server 2012 upgrade failures caused by partial database upgrades, SQL connectivity issues, and …