03 — 37 posts · 2015–2026
Blog
Notes from inside enterprise migrations — exact steps, honest trade-offs, and the occasional opinion about legacy systems.
- 3 min
Six Questions for Every Technology Request
Ask every “can we buy X?” request the same six questions. One primary technical class exposes overlap, and the answers go back on the request.APM · Technology Acquisition - 6 min
Blast Radius Is a Query, Not a Diagram
Blast radius is a walk over CMDB relationships, not a picture, and only as honest as its paths through services. Three checks before an agent trusts it.CMDB · CSDM - 3 min
AI Transformation Fails at the Foundation, Not the Model
AI transformation fails at the foundation, not the model: the data it reads, the contract for what it may do and the human who signs off. Three questions.AI · Transformation - 3 min
When a Config Change Is Really an Acquisition
A model router is one line of config and a new external data processor. Treat it as an acquisition, test the premise, and prefer a local fallback.AI · Governance - 3 min
Why You Can't Answer "What Does This App Cost?"
Cost lands on contracts, assets and cost centers, not the application. Three relationship paths carry it there; keep estimates and actuals separate.APM · TCO - 4 min
The Missing Middle: Why Business Apps Shouldn't Point at Servers
Business apps shouldn't point at servers: skipping the application service loses blast radius, ownership and impact. Find the gap, then fix it in order.CMDB · CSDM - 3 min
Two AI Sessions, One Repo: What Broke
AI sessions sharing one git working copy collide in five ways, from vanished drafts to a stuck lock file. Here is the rule behind each.AI · Git - 3 min
Absent, Not Disabled: Giving a Small Model Read Tools
A small model can read a live CMDB safely when write tools are absent, not disabled, and every call is scoped, capped, cited and audited.AI · ServiceNow - 3 min
Every Rule Needs a Source: Building a CSDM Modeler from Public Material Only
Every class, relationship and hint in the free Blueprint Modeler links to ServiceNow's public documentation. What building a CSDM tool that way taught me.CSDM · ServiceNow - 2 min
A Cancelled Contract Is Usually a Renamed One
A contract missing from this month's export was usually renumbered, not cancelled. Trace its successor before you report an exit.APM · Contracts - 3 min
A Disposition Is a Decision, Not a Field
A TIME disposition is a decision only with evidence, a ratification and a review date. Zero incidents is not dormancy, and AI proposals stay proposals.APM · TIME - 3 min
Software Product or Business Application?
A six-question rule decides whether a technology request becomes a Software Product record, a Business Application or neither.APM · CMDB - 3 min
You Don't Need a Bigger Model. You Need Better Retrieval.
Fix retrieval before buying a bigger model. A small CPU-only model went from 200-second waits and off-topic citations to useful answers without growing.AI · RAG - 3 min
Five ServiceNow API Calls That Return Success and Store Nothing
Five ServiceNow Table API calls report success yet store nothing: currency fields, ampersands in references, bad choice values, class filters, partial access.ServiceNow · CMDB - 4 min
A Dry Run Is Not Permission
A clean dry run proves nothing about write access. Safe AI-assisted production writes need a preview, stated intent, a window, a canary and a read-back.ServiceNow · AI - 2 min
Introducing solvent-brain: A Starter for an AI-Maintained Architecture Knowledge Base
solvent-brain is a free, MIT-licensed starter for an AI-maintained architecture knowledge base: an operating contract, resume state, rules and skills.Enterprise Architecture · AI - 2 min
Pushed Is Not Deployed
A push is not a deploy. Ten releases were logged as deployed while the server ran an old version; three rules keep the two apart.DevOps · AI - 3 min
Every App Needs Two Capabilities
Map every app to the Business Capabilities it serves and exactly one technical capability for what it is. That second lens makes rationalization work.Enterprise Architecture · Capability Modeling - 5 min
Two Tiers: Spend the Expensive Model Only on Judgment
Use a strong model only for judgment and schema, and a cheaper model for bounded, repeatable skills. One rule decides which tier gets each task.AI · Claude - 6 min
Sessions Forget: Designing Resume State for AI Agents
AI sessions lose whatever lives only in context. A resume page, a ruled-out list and fixed boot and close rituals keep long-running work intact.AI · Claude - 5 min
Never Let the Generator Grade Its Own Work
AI work becomes trustworthy when a separate reviewer assumes it is wrong, runs the checks and never fixes its own findings.AI · Claude - 5 min
Green Tests, Broken System: 4 Ways a Test Suite Lies
A passing test suite can still hide defects: fixtures built on assumptions, rules that never fire, checks that stop looking and gates that defend the bug.Testing · AI - 6 min
Building an AI Second Brain for Enterprise Architecture
An AI-maintained EA knowledge base works with three layers, fixed resume rituals, a skeptical reviewer and one rule: cite, don't restate.AI · Enterprise Architecture - 3 min
Certify Before You Rationalize
Rationalization is only as good as the records under it. Have owners certify the fields a disposition depends on before anyone decides keep or kill.APM · Governance - 3 min
Your Agent Doesn't Run Your Hooks
Guardrails in one AI tool's settings bind only that tool. Rules that must hold belong in git: pre-commit hooks, CI and tests every writer has to pass.AI · AI Agents - 3 min
The Field That Isn't There
A field can accept every write, return success and not exist. How phantom fields get into CMDB loads, and the partition test that exposes them.CMDB · ServiceNow - 2 min
Disconnecting Azure AD Connect
Retire Azure AD Connect (now Entra Connect): confirm cloud sign-in, uninstall the sync client, then turn off directory sync. Allow up to 72 hours.Azure · Active Directory - 2 min
Moving a KMS Host From Windows Server 2012 to 2022
You can move a KMS host from Windows Server 2012 to 2022 without breaking activation if you know the activation thresholds and follow the steps in order.KMS · Security - 3 min
Using the Microsoft MAP Toolkit for Estate Discovery
The MAP Toolkit inventories an estate for migration planning. Run it end to end for discovery, then hand off to Azure Migrate where MAP stops.Inventory · Microsoft - 3 min
Migrating a Windows Server 2012 PKI to 2022
Move a Windows Server 2012 PKI to 2022 by backing up and restoring the offline root and both intermediate CAs one at a time, with a rollback ready.PKI · Encryption - 5 min
Migrating Citrix VDI to Azure Virtual Desktop
To move Citrix into Azure, choose native Azure Virtual Desktop or Citrix DaaS, settle licensing, assess with Azure Migrate, then build one of two ways.Azure · Citrix - 2 min
Replacing Mashery With Azure API Management
Moving from on-premises TIBCO Mashery to Azure API Management trades server upkeep for a managed gateway. What APIM does well, and its limits.API · APIM - 2 min
Documenting a Next.js API With OpenAPI and Swagger UI
Serve an OpenAPI spec from a Next.js App Router route and render it with Swagger UI to get interactive API docs that stay in step with the code.swagger · openapi - 2 min
Custodial and Non-Custodial Wallets in an NFT Marketplace
Give social-login users custodial wallets and let crypto-native users bring their own. How Creative Social did both, and how to guard a recovery phrase.Wallets · Blockchain - 2 min
A Raspberry Pi ATM: Lessons From a 2018 FinTech Hackathon
A Raspberry Pi, a 7-inch screen and one question: what else could an ATM do? What a third-place 2018 FinTech hackathon taught me about data and opt-in.FinTech · Location Data - 3 min
Face, Voice and a Pass-Phrase: Lessons From a 2018 Hackathon
One short video, three checks: face, voice and the spoken pass-phrase. What a first-place 2018 Microsoft/TAG hackathon taught me about layered authentication.Identity · Biometrics - 2 min
The Java API Web Service Cheap Seats
APIs let systems share data through a stable contract. This 2015 primer explains why with Halloween candy, plus the free Java stack I used.API · Web Service