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
TFS Integration Tools: TF237165: The Team Foundation Server could not update the work item
Explains how to resolve the TF237165 error in TFS Integration Tools, caused by validation or mapping issues when updating work items during …
One Team Project to rule them all
Explains how to manage multiple teams and projects in Team Foundation Server using a single Team Project, with tips on Agile planning, …
TFS Integration Tools–Issue: AnalysisProvider not found
Explains how to resolve the "AnalysisProvider not found" error in TFS Integration Tools by updating the .NET Framework version from 3.5 to …
One Team Project Collection to rule them all - Consolidating Team Projects
Step-by-step guide to consolidating multiple Team Projects and Collections in TFS 2012 using the TFS Integration Platform, covering …
TFS Integration Tools – Issue: Error occurred during the code review of change group
Explains causes and solutions for the "Error occurred during the code review of change group" in TFS Integration Tools, including common …
TFS Integration Tools – Issue: Access denied to Program Files
Explains how to fix an "Access Denied" error when TFS Integration Tools cannot write log files to Program Files, including permission …
Upgrading TFS 2010 to TFS 2012 with VSS Migration and Process Template consolidation
Step-by-step guide to upgrading TFS 2010 to TFS 2012, migrating VSS data, consolidating process templates, and resolving common issues …
VSS Converter – Issue: TF54000: Cannot update the data because the server clock may have been set incorrectly
Explains the TF54000 error during VSS to TFS migration, its cause due to server time sync issues, and provides a simple workaround to resume …
VSS Converter – Issue: TF60014 & TF60087: Failed to initialise user mapper
Explains how to resolve TF60014 and TF60087 errors in VSSConverter.exe during VSS to TFS import by ensuring mapped users have permissions in …
Installing TFS 2012 with Lab Management 2012
Step-by-step guide to installing and configuring TFS 2012 with Lab Management, including SQL Server, SCVMM integration, troubleshooting, and …
Presenting Visual Studio ALM and upgrading TFS 2010 to TFS 2012 in production – Done
Covers presenting Visual Studio ALM features and the process of upgrading from TFS 2010 to TFS 2012, including benefits, challenges, and key …
Installing Eclipse on Windows 8 and connecting to TFS 2012
Step-by-step guide to installing Eclipse and the Java Development Kit on Windows 8, then connecting Eclipse to Team Foundation Server (TFS) …
Installing Visual Studio 2010 on Windows 8
Step-by-step guide to installing Visual Studio 2010 on Windows 8 using a virtual machine, including tips for compatibility, performance, and …
Installing TFS 2012 on Server 2012 with SQL 2012
Step-by-step guide to installing and configuring TFS 2012 on Windows Server 2012 with SQL Server 2012, including setup tips, common issues, …
Full-fidelity history and data migration are mutually exclusive
Explains why preserving complete historical data and accurate dates is often incompatible with data migration, especially for compliance and …
Process Template Upgrade #7 – Rename Work Items and Import new ones
Step-by-step guide to upgrading TFS process templates by renaming and importing work item types, preserving data, updating fields, …
Unit Testing against the Team Foundation Server 2012 API
Explains how to unit test applications against the Team Foundation Server 2012 API, focusing on handling authentication for automated and …
TFS Field Annotator
Track and view the change history of specific fields in TFS Work Items, showing who made edits and when, with support for multiple field …
TFS Service Credential Viewer
Tool for retrieving service credentials from Team Foundation Service (TFS Preview), enabling secure automated API access without manual …
What's in a burndown?
Explains burndown charts in Scrum, their purpose, common issues, and compares tracking by hours, story points, and acceptance tests to …
Professional Scrum Foundations in Salt Lake City, Utah
Covers hands-on experiences teaching the Professional Scrum Foundations course in Salt Lake City, highlighting teamwork, agile practices, …
Do you have MSDN at work? Use Visual Studio Ultimate for free at home?
MSDN subscribers can use Visual Studio, Windows, and Office at home for personal or commercial projects, with licences assigned per user and …
You can't stack rank hierarchical work items?
Explains why stack ranking hierarchical work items is challenging in agile software development, highlighting issues with ordering, …
Visual Studio 11 Upgrade Health Check
Assessment service to help teams prepare for upgrading from TFS 2010 to Visual Studio 11, ensuring compatibility, feature readiness, and …
Installing Visual Studio 11 on Windows 7
Step-by-step guide to installing Visual Studio 11 on Windows 7, covering setup process, UI changes, system requirements, and initial …
Upgrading from TFS2010 to Visual Studio 2012 Team Foundation Server in production
Step-by-step guide to upgrading from TFS 2010 to Visual Studio 2012 Team Foundation Server, including prerequisites, SQL updates, …
I messed up my work items from Excel! What now?
Guidance on recovering from accidental bulk changes to TFS work items via Excel, including finding affected items, restoring data, and …
Is ALM a useful term?
Explores whether Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is a useful term, its role in agile software delivery, and differences in adoption …
Upgrade to Visual Studio 11 Team Foundation Service - Done
Explains migrating source control and work item tracking to Visual Studio 11 Team Foundation Service, highlighting cloud benefits, …
Announcing Visual Studio 11 Beta will launch on February 29th
Visual Studio 11 Beta and Team Foundation Server Beta will be available from 29 February, with full Microsoft support for production use and …
Using Corporate ID's with Visual Studio 2012 Team Foundation Service
Explains how to set up and manage custom domain Live IDs for corporate authentication in Visual Studio 2012 Team Foundation Service using …
Are you doing Scrum? Find out with a Scrum Health Check!
Assess your team's Scrum practices with a quick health check to identify improvement areas, track progress, and ensure alignment with Scrum …
Introduction to Visual Studio 11
Overview of Visual Studio 11 features, including Team Foundation Server integration, web UI improvements, team management tools, and …
Scrum-damentals Webcast on 17th February 2012
Explore common challenges in Scrum adoption, practical strategies for overcoming them, and proven practices to help teams implement Scrum …
TF200035 Sync error for identity with TFS 2010
Details troubleshooting a TF200035 sync error in TFS 2010, covering Active Directory issues, machine account permissions, domain …
Visual Studio 2010 Overview - Reporting & Process
Learn how to customise Visual Studio 2010 process templates and use reporting tools to track, adapt, and improve team workflows with TFS for …
Visual Studio 2010 Overview - Architecture
Explains how Visual Studio 2010 supports teams in visualising, analysing, and maintaining software architecture, with tools for design, …
Visual Studio 2010 Overview - Microsoft Test Manager
Covers using Microsoft Test Manager with Visual Studio 2010 and TFS to create, run, and manage manual and automated tests, including …
Visual Studio 2010 Overview - Code Management and Build
Explains branching, merging, and build strategies in Visual Studio 2010, including integration with Team Foundation Server and new tools for …
Visual Studio 2010 Overview - IntelliTrace and Test Impact Analysis
Explains how IntelliTrace aids bug diagnosis and how Test Impact Analysis helps prioritise regression tests in Visual Studio 2010 for …
An adoption strategy for testing with Visual Studio 2010
Guidance on adopting Visual Studio 2010 test tools, including Microsoft Test Manager, hands-on labs, and agile training to improve …
Visual Studio 2010 Overview - A day in the life of ... Plan, Code & Test
Explore how developers, testers, and managers use Visual Studio 2010 and TFS for planning, coding, testing, bug fixes, and sprint management …
Visual Studio 2010 Overview - Introduction
Overview of how Visual Studio 2010 supports Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), highlighting key features and demos for developers and …
Visual Studio 2010 Overview Webcasts
Series of webcasts providing high-level overviews of Visual Studio 2010 and Team Foundation Server features, including ALM, testing, code …
What is the roll of the Project Manager in Scrum?
Explains why traditional Project Manager roles do not exist in Scrum, outlining how their skills align better with Product Owner or Scrum …
SSRS vs SCVMM - The Kerberos token dispute
Explains Kerberos authentication issues when SSRS and SCVMM run on the same server with different service accounts, causing SPN conflicts …
The Sprint is a container for Planning and not necessarily for Delivery
Explains how Scrum Sprints are primarily for planning, not fixed delivery, and discusses aligning delivery schedules, continuous deployment, …
Can you really commit to delivering work?
Explores why Scrum shifted from "commitment" to "forecasting" work delivery, highlighting the risks of overpromising and the benefits of …
Always prompted for credentials in TFS 2010?
Explains why TFS 2010 repeatedly prompts for credentials and how to resolve it by configuring your domain as an intranet site in Internet …
Are you doing Scrum? Really?
Explains recent changes to Scrum aimed at reducing rigidity, clarifying core practices, and providing a checklist to help teams assess if …