Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺

Dad (of 2). SSW Chief Architect + Microsoft Regional Director + DevOps MVP. ❤️ Angular, React, Azure, Visual Studio & Power Platform

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

Blogged: SSW purchases TinaCMS – the #1 CMS on GitHub – we love Markdown ❤️

I’m excited to share that we have acquired @tinacms – as I believe, every website should use GitHub with Markdown. Tina also comes with a rocking Markdown editor and of course, the best version control system on the market, bar none.

We are competing with big players such at Contentful, Sanity, Sitecore and many others that we have build great solutions on over the years. They all have the same Achilles Heal being a propriety database. GitHub is the answer, the question is irrelevant :-)

In addition, over the years as SSW’s Chief Architect, I’ve seen firsthand how Markdown simplifies so much for content editors. We’ve been fans and using TinaCMS for a while, it even powers the SSW website! That is because we wanted a simple UX + awesome version control.

Tina’s vision of a seamless Git CMS is shared by SSW engineers.

I have a lot to learn, and am excited to be adding features to make Tina the best CMS out there. Users will start seeing more features very soon as the Tina team will be supercharged with engineering power from SSW.

If you have product suggestions or bugs please post on GitHub, and for support check out our community Discord.

More at https://t.co/YNQzP3igqM

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

A few years ago, I was surprised to discover that @tinacms popular editorial workflow feature, only worked great for markdown files! WTF 🤯 🤯

Now thankfully images and videos are first class citizens
-a

[TinaCMS @tinacms]

Media changes should not bypass your review process.

Eli Kent demonstrates how TinaCMS previously committed uploaded media directly to the main branch, even when Editorial Workflow was enabled.

See the improved workflow, where images are uploaded to a dedicated branch, added to a pull request, and reviewed before they reach main.

Protect your main branch and manage media updates with the same confidence as content changes. 🔒

Watch it here ⬇️
https://t.co/XINdj8ujKy

#tinacms #git #github #opensource #webdevelopment #devtools #contentmanagement

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

Blogged: SSW’s homepage receives a 2026 facelift!
—— We launched a new homepage for https://t.co/eP9oQRU7Hv this week. It’s an event that happens rarely. Probably in 30 years, there have been 5 of these refreshes, and that is despite often a dozen changes a day to our large website.

It’s been a few years in the making; every time we made a start to it, we got a new client project. There’s an old joke about builders never finishing their own houses… the same is true of software companies and their websites. I was proud of our old website, but it was starting to show its age, and it didn’t have a beautiful customer journey as you scroll down the page. The new homepage still has broadly the same content (services, banners, awards, events, office details, and client logos); however, there are less words, but the page is longer.

It’s still built in TinaCMS components, but it’s more on target to showcase our consulting and easier to comprehend. No more large walls of text.

See the before and after…

More at https://t.co/GkNNI6BG8Z

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

I’m very happy to have my Microsoft MVP status renewed for another year. It's been 22 years since I was accepted and every year it's an honour that I'm with this worldwide group of smart people. 💙 💙

It's cool getting another MVP badge for my office, but for me, the real value has always been the developer community behind it. My MVP friends are always happy to answer my questions, generously share what they’ve learned, challenge each other’s thinking, and help the next person avoid the mistakes they've made.

Each year I go to the USA for the MVP Summit, and have heaps of awesome conversations with the Microsoft product team, and I always come home with new ideas and fresh energy.

Thank you to every MVP past and present. It’s been an honour learning with you.

#MicrosoftMVP #MVPBuzz #DeveloperCommunity

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

On Teams, I hate getting 👍 on a message that is a task.

Tighten up your communication. React with:
•👀 = Seen it
•✅ = Done

🟥 Watch https://t.co/sXnkLwPqwH

Stop reacting 👍 to tasks. It gives the poor person mixed messages.

Steal this for your team https://t.co/hfg09s6oQM

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

North Sydney Council Approves Critical Safety Link: Military Road Pedestrian Overpass Project

NEUTRAL BAY, NSW – North Sydney Council has formally approved the development of the Military Road Strategic Pedestrian Link, a $38.2 million infrastructure project aimed at eliminating high-risk foot traffic interactions on one of Sydney’s most congested arterial roads.

More: https://t.co/aq9zLBwCTE

[SSW / SSW TV @SSW_TV]

New pedestrian bridge in Neutral Bay - from SSW to The Oaks Hotel
Neutral Bay • Military Road

After years of debate and despite some local opposition, the $38 million 40-metre-long pedestrian bridge across Military Road near the famous north shore watering hole, The Oaks, has finally been approved.

North Sydney Council approved the infrastructure upgrade and airspace lease. This new development has emerged shortly after the sale of The Oaks Hotel. The record-breaking sale made it Australia's most expensive pub.

Last year, the Oaks Hotel was listed for $175 million, but this year it was ultimately snapped up for $140 million. It seems the remaining funds were allocated to leasing the airspace and construction of the overpass. SSW (the neighbouring AI software consulting company) is reported to have made a small contribution toward the construction.

"SSW supported the project as we saw the footbridge as critical infrastructure for the safety of our employees and cross-functional collaboration with the local hospitality sector. But, I hope it doesn't encourage my software engineers to nip over for a quick beer."

— Adam Cogan, SSW Chief Architect, https://t.co/f6NCpHmA8q

🗓️ The recent approval means construction is expected to begin immediately after April 1.

More info:
- https://t.co/Qw7Qcy1sMW
- https://t.co/aQs2uJv8YV
- https://t.co/f6NCpHmA8q
- https://t.co/2G0Q0fUyqx

#TheOaks #SSW #NorthSydney #Sydney #Sale #Infrastructure #DeveloperProductivity

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

On Friday I did something very different.  I keynoted at Australia’s #1 Payroll conference at the Hilton in Sydney.  

The event was full of payroll professionals, HR people and accountants from across the country. I had heaps of great conversations after my talk.

Since over 90% of my expenses at SSW are payroll, I was looking for some hot tips
😂 😂

Doing a keynote is more responsibility and more preparation than a normal session and the conference organizers were really helpful and diligent.

My session, “Supercharge Yourself with AI: Practical AI You Can Use Right Now for Payroll and More” explored how AI is transforming common workflows for payroll teams by boosting productivity, reducing admin, and improving accuracy.

I loved preparing for this talk and it was all practical - SSW has already implemented AI solutions for payroll companies in both Australia and France, helping teams automate repetitive tasks, and get the right answers for complicated questions that can never be wrong.

While speaking I asked a few questions and this is what I learnt:
* 90% of the room had used Copilot
* 10% Claude Cowork (that will change quickly)
* 50% Beryl - the AI assistant for Payroll that SSW built for APA (Australian Payroll Association). It was a fun project and quite a bit of work, so that was rewarding to see that. (See Beryl in a photo)

I did have a conference attendee come up to me and sternly say
  “Adam I wont use it until you change the name!”
I asked why and she said
  “My sister in-law is named Beryl”

🚀 AI in payroll is no longer ‘coming soon’ - it’s here and delivering real results. Sing out if you need help.

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

https://t.co/Z7Hs6TxCJQ

Following the Sun means handing work from one team to another as time zones change, allowing projects to keep moving even when part of the team is asleep.

At SSW, we use this approach to accelerate software delivery.

Following the Sun is about intentional handovers so that each team can confidently pick up where the last one left off.

These rules define how we Follow the Sun at SSW, ensuring work gets done faster, context is never lost, and teams across Australia, Europe, China, and North America operate as one.

WATCH https://t.co/E6Wz7yIZcU

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

Do you write an https://t.co/3lmvZUdg8H? 👋
https://t.co/J9oVLn9KXy

Last week at SSW we looked at https://t.co/3lmvZUdg8H 🤖 - a way to standardize your agents' behavior within a codebase, among your team.

AI coding assistants like Cursor and GitHub Copilot are incredibly powerful, but they work best when they understand your project's specific architecture, coding standards, and common tasks. Without this context, they may suggest patterns that don't align with your codebase.

https://t.co/3lmvZUdg8H is an agreed-upon standard between all the big AI players, replacing things like .cursorrules and copilot_instructions.md

All current and future SSW projects now include an https://t.co/3lmvZUdg8H file by default!

Check our Clean Architecture template's https://t.co/3lmvZUdg8H for a good example:
https://t.co/4teRN2KbwI

Do you write an https://t.co/3lmvZUdg8H?

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

My best Christmas present was from the SSW Rules team who migrated from Markdown to MDX using the awesome editor https://t.co/ahdkWuVotO

Now it is even easier to edit .MD files on GitHub

Enjoy https://t.co/Ao3pvFikJ5 (8 min)

Thank you guys for this.

Happy New Year 🎉
https://t.co/gP7grwz4Ps

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

Blogged – .NET Aspire 9.4 – CLI Magic and Developer-Friendly Dashboards!

The updates from the Aspire team are coming in rapid fire this year! At SSW we are using it on large projects.

This release brings powerful new features, including:
✨ Aspire CLI in GA
🧠 AI Integration with GitHub Models & Azure AI Foundry
✨ External Service Modeling
✨ Interaction Parameter Prompting

Check out my blog for my favourites from this release (and a few from 9.3 too)

https://t.co/rUYRu1coYJ

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

Poll: UI - What is your preference for callout boxes?
(see image in thread)

I was surprised there was not consensus with my designers on this one. What is your choice:

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

Just blogged - How to Choose the Right Software Architecture

Choosing the wrong architecture hurts! Avoid future pain by knowing when to pick Clean Architecture, Microservices, Modular Monolith, or Vertical Slice using the SSW Architectural Decision Tree.

🟥 Enjoy! https://t.co/KQ6rv7xLD9

Q: What makes your #devlife happy? #CleanArchitecture, #Microservices, #VSA or #MoMo?

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

Video: https://t.co/iYqhdDfRrR

Purchasing an ice-cream from a robot in China 🇨🇳
(a fun experience in Dali south-west China)

Would you use this to buy an ice-cream?

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

GPT Canvas looks great - you can target just the right parts when you are trying to get an email together.

I wish these AI companies would use the same terms
Eg. Either Canvas or Artifacts
Eg. Either GPTs or Projects

[Ulysses Maclaren @ulyssesmac]

Open AI comes up with Custom GPTs... then Anthropic released Claude Projects...

Now it's OpenAI's turn to copy Clause Artifacts with their GPT Canvas.

I've had a play and i actually really like it for iterating on longer form content .
https://t.co/iVkuMPnRzN

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

Great work Tina team 🦙

I know this one was harder than it looked.
@tinacms now on #node22

[Matt Wicks @matteightyate]

🎉 My team does a lot of hard work to ensure #TinaCMS supports LTS versions of #NodeJS. I'm thrilled that v2.2.5 is ready for Node 22's LTS release next month! 📆 The devs really came together to get this done - I'm grateful for their dedication. 💪 https://t.co/Bz5bJcgMRl

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

1/2 Norway’s garbage bins are amazing - I’ve seen these bins for years and just noticed they are brilliant
🇳🇴 ⭐️

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

2/2 They have such a good UX that I had not noticed that they are special bins.

In addition, with the sensors inside, they only get emptied when they are full. And unlike Sydney bins, they only require 1 person to empty them.

Add to that, they are huge, have a closed lid and so don’t smell and don’t attract vermin.

Super efficient and clean ❤️

Enjoy the video https://t.co/MxJH2nWz4U

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

@feroxneto @tinacms No plan or pricing changes are planned. We are busy on features… very busy.

[Adam Cogan [SSW] in Sydney 🇦🇺 @AdamCogan]

Blogged: SSW purchases TinaCMS – the #1 CMS on GitHub – we love Markdown ❤️

I’m excited to share that we have acquired @tinacms – as I believe, every website should use GitHub with Markdown. Tina also comes with a rocking Markdown editor and of course, the best version control system on the market, bar none.

We are competing with big players such at Contentful, Sanity, Sitecore and many others that we have build great solutions on over the years. They all have the same Achilles Heal being a propriety database. GitHub is the answer, the question is irrelevant :-)

In addition, over the years as SSW’s Chief Architect, I’ve seen firsthand how Markdown simplifies so much for content editors. We’ve been fans and using TinaCMS for a while, it even powers the SSW website! That is because we wanted a simple UX + awesome version control.

Tina’s vision of a seamless Git CMS is shared by SSW engineers.

I have a lot to learn, and am excited to be adding features to make Tina the best CMS out there. Users will start seeing more features very soon as the Tina team will be supercharged with engineering power from SSW.

If you have product suggestions or bugs please post on GitHub, and for support check out our community Discord.

More at https://t.co/YNQzP3igqM