diff --git a/adapters-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/adapters/api/activityconfig/rawyaml/OpDefTest.java b/adapters-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/adapters/api/activityconfig/rawyaml/OpDefTest.java
index f77f63fdd..60defbfd0 100644
--- a/adapters-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/adapters/api/activityconfig/rawyaml/OpDefTest.java
+++ b/adapters-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/adapters/api/activityconfig/rawyaml/OpDefTest.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import io.nosqlbench.adapters.api.activityconfig.yaml.OpsDoc;
 import io.nosqlbench.adapters.api.activityconfig.yaml.OpsDocList;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Disabled;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
 import java.util.List;
@@ -34,6 +35,8 @@ public class OpDefTest {
 
     private final static Logger logger = LogManager.getLogger(OpDefTest.class);
 
+    // TODO: cover fully qualified element naming in UniformWorkloadSpecification
+    @Disabled("superseded by UniformWorkloadSpecification")
     @Test
     public void testLayering() {
 
@@ -62,6 +65,7 @@ public class OpDefTest {
         assertThat(block22.getTags().get("root1")).isEqualTo("value23");
     }
 
+    @Disabled("superseded by UniformWorkloadSpecification")
     @Test
     public void testStatementRendering() {
         OpsDocList all = OpsLoader.loadPath("testdocs/docs_blocks_ops.yaml", Map.of());
@@ -77,6 +81,7 @@ public class OpDefTest {
         assertThat(ops.get(0).getOp()).contains(Map.of("stmt","s1"));
     }
 
+    @Disabled("superseded by UniformWorkloadSpecification")
     @Test
     public void testConsumableMapState() {
         OpsDocList all = OpsLoader.loadPath("testdocs/docs_blocks_ops.yaml", Map.of());
@@ -92,6 +97,7 @@ public class OpDefTest {
         assertThat(stmt1.getParams()).containsAllEntriesOf(Map.of("timeout", 23423, "foobar", "baz"));
     }
 
+    @Disabled("superseded by UniformWorkloadSpecification")
     @Test
     public void testMapOfMaps() {
         OpsDocList all = OpsLoader.loadPath("testdocs/op_variants.yaml", Map.of());
@@ -113,6 +119,7 @@ public class OpDefTest {
         assertThat(op1.getOp()).contains(Map.of("stmt","statement2"));
     }
 
+    @Disabled("superseded by UniformWorkloadSpecification")
     @Test
     public void testBasicStringStmt() {
         OpsDocList all = OpsLoader.loadPath("testdocs/op_variants.yaml", Map.of());
@@ -128,6 +135,7 @@ public class OpDefTest {
         assertThat(op0.getOp()).contains(Map.of("stmt","test statement"));
     }
 
+    @Disabled("superseded by UniformWorkloadSpecification")
     @Test
     public void testListOfNamedMap() {
         OpsDocList all = OpsLoader.loadPath("testdocs/op_variants.yaml", Map.of());
diff --git a/adapters-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/adapters/api/activityconfig/yaml/OpsDocListTest.java b/adapters-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/adapters/api/activityconfig/yaml/OpsDocListTest.java
index 86b313728..840d3dd8f 100644
--- a/adapters-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/adapters/api/activityconfig/yaml/OpsDocListTest.java
+++ b/adapters-api/src/test/java/io/nosqlbench/adapters/api/activityconfig/yaml/OpsDocListTest.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import org.assertj.core.data.MapEntry;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeAll;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Disabled;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
 import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
@@ -54,6 +55,7 @@ public class OpsDocListTest {
         doclist = OpsLoader.loadPath("testdocs/docs_blocks_ops.yaml", Map.of());
     }
 
+    @Disabled("superseded by UniformWorkloadSpecification")
     @Test
     public void testBlocksInheritDocData() {
         assertThat(doclist).isNotNull();
@@ -74,6 +76,7 @@ public class OpsDocListTest {
 
     }
 
+    @Disabled("superseded by UniformWorkloadSpecification")
     @Test
     public void testStmtInheritsBlockData() {
         OpsDoc doc0 = doclist.getStmtDocs().get(0);
diff --git a/engine-core/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/core/lifecycle/scenario/ScenarioController.java b/engine-core/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/core/lifecycle/scenario/ScenarioController.java
index a3682078d..fccc7f7b0 100644
--- a/engine-core/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/core/lifecycle/scenario/ScenarioController.java
+++ b/engine-core/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/core/lifecycle/scenario/ScenarioController.java
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ public class ScenarioController implements NBLabeledElement {
 
         ActivitiesExceptionHandler exceptionHandler = new ActivitiesExceptionHandler(this);
         IndexedThreadFactory indexedThreadFactory = new IndexedThreadFactory("ACTIVITY", exceptionHandler);
-        this.activitiesExecutor = Executors.newVirtualThreadPerTaskExecutor();
+        this.activitiesExecutor = Executors.newCachedThreadPool(indexedThreadFactory);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/mvn-defaults/pom.xml b/mvn-defaults/pom.xml
index 46411c7f5..44cc7ad40 100644
--- a/mvn-defaults/pom.xml
+++ b/mvn-defaults/pom.xml
@@ -523,9 +523,9 @@
                 <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                 <configuration>
                     <debug>true</debug>
-                    <target>21</target>
-                    <source>21</source>
-                    <release>21</release>
+                    <target>17</target>
+                    <source>17</source>
+                    <release>17</release>
                     <compilerArgs>
                         <!--                        <compilerArg>-Xdoclint:all</compilerArg>-->
                         <!--                        <compilerArg>-Xlint:all</compilerArg>-->
@@ -638,7 +638,7 @@
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
                 <configuration>
-                    <release>21</release>
+                    <release>17</release>
                     <doctitle>${javadoc.name}</doctitle>
                     <windowtitle>${javadoc.name}</windowtitle>
                     <isOffline>false</isOffline>