Engineering Excellence: Cultivating Quality and Scalability Through Technical Rigor

Martin is in EST for 6 months and available for hands-on consulting in North America. This month’s spotlight: How tracking estimation accuracy is …

Transform your definition of done into a strategic advantage—deliver real value, reduce risk, and drive business impact with every sprint.

Delaying software releases increases failure risk. Frequent, small releases improve success rates, adaptability, and recovery, as shown by CHAOS …

Explore proven strategies from Azure DevOps for building resilient, reliable software systems—covering transparency, automation, telemetry, incident …

Team issues with quality or delivery often stem from weak systems, lacking clear standards, automation, and leadership support—not just team …

Stop flying blind after release—learn why telemetry is vital to your Definition of Done and how real feedback drives better software, value, and team …

Many organisations cite software complexity as a barrier to continuous delivery, but real obstacles are technical debt and lack of investment in …

Manual testing limits release speed and quality, while automation enables faster, more reliable software delivery by reducing regressions and tester …

Agentic Software Delivery is a strategy for continuously achieving business outcomes through the deliberate integration of autonomous AI agents, human …

Frequent changes to the Definition of Done reduce team quality and predictability. Consistent, enforced standards are key to reliable delivery and …

Continuous Delivery is the practice of frequently delivering small increments of valuable product directly to real users, enabling rapid feedback, …

Explains how Windows OS updates shifted from infrequent, risky releases to safe, staged rollouts using ring-based deployment and real-time user …

Managing source control with Azure Repos for modern software development.

Learn to manage, execute, and report on tests for web and desktop apps using Azure Test Plans, with hands-on training for agile teams and quality …

Balancing risk and speed when getting software into production.

Explains why environment-based branching slows development, and recommends using feature flags and progressive rollouts for simpler, faster, and safer …

Explores how adapting software architecture to changing demands drives long-term success, highlighting incremental change, team investment, and a …

Ensuring continuous delivery of incremental improvements to users and stakeholders.

Learn how to modernise legacy systems by balancing stability and innovation, managing technical debt, and adopting gradual, sustainable improvements …

Explores common DevOps challenges to rapid delivery, highlighting automation, feedback loops, mindset shifts, and compliance for achieving agile, …

Releases feel risky when teams lack a clear Definition of Done. Learn how a strong DoD ensures stress-free, reliable software delivery with built-in …

Explains why modern software teams avoid branch promotion, using continuous integration, feature flags, and production-like testing to streamline …

Frequent software releases reduce risk, enable faster feedback, and help teams adapt to user needs, preventing costly mistakes and improving overall …

Learn why simple branching strategies like GitHub Flow and Release Flow help teams deliver faster, reduce risk, and avoid the pitfalls of complex …

Managing the development, maintenance, and governance of software applications throughout their lifecycle.

Align development with business goals using Behaviour Driven Development (BDD). Improve collaboration and create clear, testable requirements.

Is legacy tech slowing your team? Discover how removing friction unlocks agility, innovation, and faster delivery in your organisation.

Explores how Azure DevOps shifted from slow, two-year releases to rapid, continuous delivery, highlighting the benefits of fast feedback, agility, and …

Excessive handoffs in software development create delays, reduce quality, and harm team morale. Learn how eliminating handoffs boosts agility, flow, …

Scrum alone does not cause project failure; lacking strong engineering practices and effective retrospectives leads to technical debt and poor Agile …

Explains how Scrum Sprints are primarily for planning, not fixed delivery, and discusses aligning delivery schedules, continuous deployment, and …

Technical debt poses significant business risks, reducing agility, slowing innovation, and causing lost opportunities. Addressing it is crucial for …

Explains how simplifying complex software and committing to change enables continuous delivery, highlighting the need for cultural shift, resilience, …

Delivering working, valuable software at the end of each iteration, ensuring value is incrementally added to the product.

Explores why fixed best practices don't suit complex continuous delivery, highlighting adaptive approaches like audience-based delivery, testing in …

An Internal Developer Platform streamlines development processes, enabling teams to build, test, and deploy applications efficiently within a …

Explains how slow product release cycles delay feature delivery, risk losing relevance, and create competitive disadvantages, highlighting the …

Rollback is often riskier than rolling forward, especially for stateful apps. Safer deployment relies on progressive delivery and fail-forward …

Learn how agile metrics like innovation rate, product index, usage index, and version adoption help identify waste and improve ROI by focusing on …

Technical debt increases risk to products and businesses, leading to hidden costs, reduced quality, and slower delivery. Ignoring it can harm …

Explains how to automate and streamline software release management using Team Foundation Server 2012, Lab Management, and Octopus, focusing on build, …

Intensive five-day course for software developers covering Scrum, Visual Studio 2010, .NET, and Agile practices through hands-on team sprints and …

Explains the importance of passing builds, common causes of build failures, how to identify issues and responsible users, and best practices for build …

GitHub is a platform for version control and collaboration, offering tools for code hosting, CI/CD, project management, and team collaboration.

Overview of Microsoft’s new web-based Release Management tools for building flexible, integrated DevOps pipelines in VSTS and TFS, supporting diverse …

Step-by-step guide to building an automated Release Management pipeline for professional developers, covering build, deployment, environment setup, …

Enhance forecasting in Agile and Scrum. Use empirical data to predict delivery timelines, manage risk, and optimise value delivery.

Learn how to automate legacy systems by shifting organisational mindset, adopting DevOps practices, and making incremental improvements to boost …

Microsoft’s switch to 3-week Sprints increased team anxiety due to greater transparency, exposing inefficiencies but enabling faster, more frequent …

Explores how lacking developer control over production, telemetry, and deployments undermines DevOps, leading to fragile automation and failed …

Explores how true professionalism in Scrum enables Agile teams to deliver production-ready products, highlighting the importance of transparency, …

Highlights the importance of promptly fixing software bugs instead of managing backlogs, arguing that unresolved defects harm product quality and team …

Platform Engineering is the practice of designing, building, and maintaining internal platforms that enable developers to deliver value independently, …

Unreleased features create hidden costs and risks. Regular software delivery reduces failure rates, rework, and missed opportunities, ensuring real …

Learn DevOps principles and hands-on CI/CD using Azure DevOps Services, Visual Studio, and Azure to improve team collaboration, delivery, and …

Gain practical skills in Scrum, Agile, and DevOps for software development, with hands-on team exercises and preparation for the Professional Scrum …

Explores how breaking features into small experiments boosts software delivery, enabling teams to deliver more features, reduce risk, and improve …

Learn to configure and use Azure Repos for Git version control, collaborate with branching and pull requests, and integrate with Visual Studio and …

Lack of a clear, enforced Definition of Done leads to hidden risks, unreliable forecasts, and eroded trust in delivery, undermining predictability and …

Staging environments can’t fully replicate production, often leading to false confidence. Real risk reduction comes from safe, incremental releases to …