Microsoft 365 Backup vs Archive vs Retention vs Inactive Mailbox
Microsoft 365 Backup, M365 Archive, Purview retention, EOA, and inactive mailbox - what each one actually does, and where third-party archivers fit.
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MCP Servers Are Becoming a Core Interface Layer in Data Observability and Data Quality
Data observability has traditionally been built around human workflows. When data breaks, engineers are alerted, open dashboards, inspect lineage graphs, and manually trace the issue across pipelines. The system is designed for human investigation and interpretation. That model is now being challenged by the rise of AI agents in data operations. As organizations begin embedding AI into analytics, engineering, and decision-making workflows, observability is no longer just about explaining what happened - it must also enable systems to understand and act on it.
API update: Full board management now available
We’re excited to announce expanded functionality for the StatusGator Boards API. You can now create new boards, update existing boards, and delete boards directly through the API. Previously, the Boards API only supported listing boards and retrieving board details. With these new capabilities, you can automate the complete board lifecycle – from provisioning new boards to managing ownership and cleaning up boards that are no longer needed.
Add custom metadata to your monitors
We’re excited to introduce monitor metadata, a new feature available in the General tab of monitor settings. You can now add custom key/value metadata to monitors, making it easier to organize resources and add operational context to alerts and integrations.
Chunk sidecars: CI Feedback Before the Push
Chunk sidecars give your agent CI-grade feedback in seconds. No push, no pipeline wait. Catch failures and fix them while the agent is still in context.
Zero Friction, Zero Tickets, Zero Disruption: The New Operational Mandate for IT
For decades, IT operations have followed a familiar model. Specialized teams manage different parts of the environment, from infrastructure and networks to security and endpoint management. When employees encounter issues, they submit tickets to the service desk, which are then triaged, escalated, and resolved. This structure has endured because it provided a reliable way to maintain system health and respond to problems as they arise.
How to set up blue-green deployments with CircleCI
How to set up blue-green deployments with CircleCI.
Agentic validation needs different infrastructure
Previously, I described some core approaches to validating agent written code: feedforward and feedback techniques. Feedforward techniques are about avoiding errors up front, for example by coming up with better prompts and planning strategies. Feedback gives agents a signal that they have actually achieved a task. Feedback is a key part of common agentic patterns like Ralph loops or the /goal commands in Codex and Claude Code: keep working until some known condition passes.
OneDrive Quota Enforcement July 2026 (MC1310684): What to Do
From July 2026 Microsoft will put OneDrive users over their licensed quota into read-only state. What MC1310684 means and how to prepare before the cutover.
A package manager for AI assets (and why the lock file is per-user)
Sometime in the last two years your repos quietly filled up with a new category of file. Not code, not config exactly: prompts. A.claude/skills/ directory here. A.cursor/rules/ folder there. A CLAUDE.md at the root, an AGENTS.md next to it, a.mcp.json listing the servers your agent is allowed to call. These are the things that make a coding agent useful on your codebase, and they're sprawling.