Blog & Insights

Sharing knowledge

Here, we share insights, tips, and news from the world of software development. We explore the latest trends, offer solutions for common challenges, and provide a glimpse into our projects.

Flat illustration of a workflow from a spark with an orbit across three stations to a release tag, with an optional arc for pull requests and five dots for the roles

Seven Agent Runs per Feature: Why I Got Rid of Subagents Again

AI & Agents

Series · part 3 of 3

Start from part 1Same Instructions to Coding Agents, Every Time: Why I Built My Own Harness
A telephone handset whose sound waves flow into a timeline; the first entry on the timeline is the call

Reporting an Incident by Phone: How a Call from the Line Becomes a Documented Incident

Processes
Flat illustration of a spark with an orbit between a C4 diagram and three decision cards, one of which is crossed out and replaced by a new one via an arrow

Why Architecture Docs Go Stale, and How Coding Agents Keep Them Current

AI & Agents

Series · part 2 of 3

Start from part 1Same Instructions to Coding Agents, Every Time: Why I Built My Own Harness
Eight building blocks D1 to D8 along a path from complaint to closure, with a magnifying glass over D4, the root cause analysis

8D Report: the Eight Disciplines Worked Through a Real Example, with a Free Template

Processes
Flat illustration of a spark with an orbit between four rule cards with symbols for evidence, simplicity, tests and short sentences

Same Instructions to Coding Agents, Every Time: Why I Built My Own Harness

AI & Agents

Series · part 1 of 3

Chart with a steadily rising RSS line next to a flat GC heap line, surrounded by a grid of leaked 3400-byte memory blocks

3.4 KB per Connection: How We Found a Native Memory Leak in .NET 10 on Linux

Development
Sascha and Sven in the vensas office announcing their campaign "Our first major campaign"

We're Looking for Germany's Weirdest Process: €10,000 for the Winner

Processes
A business owner considers three boxes, a plain standard box, one stamped with a factory icon for industry software, and one being shaped by hand to fit exactly

What Is Custom Software? Definition, Pros, Examples

Insights
A single AI pilot growing through several connections into a company's existing systems, symbolizing the shift from experiment to a lasting capability

AI in German SMEs: How a Pilot Project Becomes a Lasting Capability

Insights
A lean ERP core with three custom applications docked onto it over clear interfaces, next to a drifting collection of disconnected tools and spreadsheet fragments representing island solutions

ERP for the Mittelstand: How Custom Software Extends Your ERP

Insights
Server room with glowing teal and orange fiber optic cables

Vensas.Aspire.Hosting.Kamal: An Open Source Kamal Deployment Target for .NET Aspire

DevOps
A stream of text with an invisible watermark pattern woven through its letters, revealed by a magnifying glass

SynthID-Text Explained: How Google DeepMind Watermarks AI Text (and Where It Breaks)

AI & Agents
A cut-open block revealing a process with connected stations inside, above it four numbered steps from magnifying glass through chart and gear to target, next to it a notepad with a handwritten table

The anatomy of a process optimisation: why nobody believed their own software

Processes
Comparison of two .NET startup sequences: a classic app with a noticeable JIT warm-up delay next to a Native AOT app that starts instantly, alongside a falling cloud-cost icon

Native AOT in .NET: Faster Startup, Lower Cloud Costs

Development
A fork in the road with three paths – symbol of the decision to improve, reinvent, or scrap a process

Improve, reinvent, or scrap? And which KPIs decide it

Insights

Series · 3 parts2 premium

Diagram titled 'Why HTTPS Can Block Compression (gzip)': a small gzip parcel travels freely through an unlocked HTTP tube to a browser, while a bulky gzip parcel is stopped by a padlock marked BLOCKED on an encrypted HTTPS tube

ASP.NET Core Response Compression: Why Your HTTPS Traffic Might Never Be Gzipped

Development
A person reviews an AI decision explained in plain language next to the result — a picture of traceable, controllable AI for mid-sized businesses
AI-generated

Explainable AI for SMEs: Why Trust Matters More Than the Best Model

AI & Agents
A table with data sheets and sticky notes – representing the look into your own data before an optimisation project

Is Your Data Good Enough? What It Could Already Tell You

Processes

Series · 3 parts2 premium

Server room with blue lights and fiber optic cables

Aspire 13 for Enterprise: Networking, Registry, and Security

DevOps
Pixel art scene – a researcher examining requirements documents with a magnifying glass while a giant boulder labeled "Unclarity" looms in the background

What Makes Software Good? Making Quality Requirements Measurable

Insights
An illustration of a language model at the center of a structured scaffold of loops, tools, memory and guardrails - the harness around the model

What Is an Agentic Harness? Why the Wrapper Around the Model Now Decides Who Ships

AI & Agents

Series · 5 parts4 premium

Neural network as glowing connection lines on a dark background

Aspire as AI Orchestrator: MCP, Agents, and Foundry

DevOps
Two people at a table working together over a business process sketch — symbolising the close partnership in custom software development
AI-generated

Is Custom Software a Risk? Only With the Wrong Partner

Processes

Series · 3 parts2 premium

A padlock sealing a stack of versioned NuGet packages, with a CI pipeline in the background producing identical builds

NuGet Version Locking: Why Your Build Should Never Depend on the Day You Run It

Development
Colorful lines of programming code on a dark screen

Aspire Goes Polyglot: Python, JavaScript, Go, and TypeScript

DevOps
An AI figure woven from glowing neural-network lines chaining thousands of separate software-vulnerability locks into a single luminous exploit path that converges into a skeleton key

AI Has Seen Every Security Hole Ever Found — And Now It Can Combine Them Into New Attacks

AI & Agents
Abstract architectural drawings and blueprints on a light table

Aspire 13: New Architecture, New Developer Experience

DevOps
A contrast between chaotic AI use with tangled cables and tool sprawl on the left and a calm, clearly structured AI process on the right

AI Without a Plan: Why Companies Burn Money - and How Clear Processes Win It Back

Insights
An AI agent holding a master key in front of a wall of locked doors leading to databases, repositories, and internal systems

MCP Security: When AI Gets Access That Only Humans Should Have

AI & Agents
An HTTP request using the QUERY verb carries a JSON body to a server, next to the .NET logo and icons for caching and retryability

The New HTTP QUERY Method – and How to Use It Today with .NET 10

Development
Multiple cargo ships at sea photographed from above, sailing in different directions

aspire deploy – What Actually Happens?

DevOps
A GPU server in a data center set against a cloud API, symbolizing the decision between self-hosting and buying language models via API

Is a Local AI Setup Really Worth It for a Company?

AI & Agents
A focused software team and a mid-sized business owner working together at one table on a custom business application

Can an SME Even Build Custom Software for the Mittelstand?

Insights
A central routing hub connecting one application to many different language model providers through a single interface

OpenRouter Explained: One API for Every LLM - and What It Means for EU Teams

AI & Agents
Container port at night with cranes and light reflections in the water

.NET Aspire 9 and the Deployment Problem

DevOps
Three stacked layers representing a spec, a verification station, and a workshop environment for building with AI

The Three Layers of Working With AI: Spec, Verifier, and Environment

AI & Agents
OpenFlow platform showing BPMN process diagrams for administrative workflows

From Idea to Victory: OpenFlow and F13 at the GovTech Hackathon Saarland

Insights
A journey through the evolution of .NET showcasing modern ASP.NET Core and CQRS architecture

Modern .NET Development: Building Scalable Solutions

Development
AI agent interacting with a website through structured tools and prompts

WebMCP: Turning Websites into AI-Ready Interfaces

AI & Agents
Developer working with AI coding assistant on local infrastructure

Self-Hosted AI Coding Agents - Data Privacy and Local Alternatives

AI & Agents
Organizational chart transforms into software architecture

Conway's Law - Why Your Software Looks Like Your Company

Insights
Developer coordinating multiple AI agents working in parallel across different Git Worktrees

Scaling Development with Git Worktrees and AI Agents

AI & Agents
Team meeting in a modern office with code review on a large screen - a robot is sitting at the table too

Code Reviews in the Age of Coding Agents

AI & Agents
Stopwatch, hourglass, coins and charts representing process optimization and cost reduction

The Most Expensive Process in Your Company - And Why You're Probably Not Optimizing It

Insights
Screenshots of DATAflor TIME mobile app for time tracking and construction site documentation

Case Study - Migrating a Xamarin.Forms App to .NET MAUI at DATAflor

Development
Three people in discussion with flowchart on whiteboard and laptop

'Which industry are you experts in?' – None, and that's exactly our strength!

Insights
Developer surrounded by bug insects while looking at testing dashboards

UI Testing with Playwright

DevOps
Isometric illustration of containers, performance graphs, and Kubernetes with dollar signs representing cost savings

DATAS and Server Garbage Collection in .NET 9

Development
Team meeting in modern office with code review displayed on large screen

How to Conduct Effective Code Reviews

DevOps
Smartphone at the beach with a HybridWebView sample app displayed

.NET MAUI 9 HybridWebView

Development
Open book with a glowing light bulb, surrounded by software architecture diagrams, gears and charts

Architecture Decision Records

DevOps
Split illustration of two people working remotely from different home offices

On Working Remotely

Insights
Abstract visualisation with Type Unions text, geometric shapes and code elements

Discriminated Unions Are (Maybe) Coming to C#

Development
Mountain landscape with pipelines running through a valley

Continuous Deployment with Azure DevOps

DevOps