Engineering Leadership

​Join us for an evening of conversation, food, and drinks with Platform Engineering, DevOps, and Engineering leaders exploring how AI is reshaping the future of software delivery and operational scale. ​As organizations move beyond AI experimentation, engineering teams are facing a new challenge: how to operationalize AI safely across the SDLC while maintaining governance, visibility, and developer velocity. ​We’re bringing together leaders building modern engineering platforms inside large-scale environments to discuss what’s actually working, where the market is heading, and the foundational shifts required to support autonomous engineering. ## ​What We’ll Discuss * ​Moving from AI assistants to AI systems that can safely take action * ​The platform engineering infrastructure required to harness the AI-SDLC * ​Governance, context, and control in agentic software environments * ​Real-world lessons from AI Native engineering organizations * ​Where Platform Engineering and Agentic Engineering are heading next ## ​Featured Conversation ​Leaders from Sportradar and Port will share practical stories of agentic engineering. ## ​Event Format * ​Fireside conversation * ​Peer-led discussion * ​Food & drinks * ​Curated networking with engineering leaders ​No product pitches. No lengthy presentations. Just practical conversations with leaders building the future of engineering. ## ​About Port ​Port is the agentic AEP (Agentic Engineering platform) leading companies to autonomous engineering. ​Port brings developers and agents together across the AI-SDLC with a shared Context Lake, Human & Agents collaboration experience, and Guardrails. Engineering teams get the freedom to build their own agentic workflow, without losing control. ​Trusted by engineering teams at GitHub, British Telecom, Yum!, dLocal, LG, and more.

Come and join us every week day from 12.45pm - 2.45pm. Classes for levels elementary to upper-intermediate (A1+ - B2+) Improve your fluency, listening and reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary with our friendly classes. No payment needed - the classes are **completely free** because the teachers are training with a University of Cambridge accredited program. Join us at 24 Great Chapel St, London, W1F 8FS Take the level test in advance for more information about classes for your level (link to the level test: https://forms.gle/mn3hqUgo3BRLyAUi7) and wait for up to one business day for more information. OR Come 15 minutes early on your first day to do a quick speaking test and find your classroom. See you soon!

🎉 Come along to the London Scala Talks for a deep dive into functional architecture! 🎉 In this event you'll hear from David Lebl and Przemysław Pokrywka. **Agenda** 6:00pm - 🥤 Doors open. Come along and grab a drink! 6:35pm - 🗣️ Introduction 6:40pm - 🗣️ Przemysław Pokrywka: Ports and Adapters for People on Tight Schedules 7:20pm - 🍕 Intermission: Join us for some free food and drinks! Vegan and vegetarian options are provided. Let us know if you'd like something special - we'd be happy to accommodate. 7:50pm - 🗣️ David Lebl: Complexity is a Sin, But Hexagons Forgive 8:30pm - 🥤 Socialising: Grab a drink and let's discuss the talks. 9:00pm - 🍻 Join us in a pub to discuss the talks! 🌐 **This event will not have a live stream** We hope to see you there in person. **🗣️ Przemysław Pokrywka: Ports and Adapters for People on Tight Schedules** Focus on software architecture is not always associated with pragmatism in common perception. Terms such as architecture astronautics and the ivory tower stereotype highlight the perceived disconnect between many architects and the realities of day-to-day code maintenance. Too often, architectural patterns are applied with insufficient understanding, leading to cargo-cult adoption and increased waste in the software development process. When applied in the right context, however, certain architectural approaches can be powerful enablers. In this talk, I would like to share the story of a serverless application in which elements of the Ports and Adapters architecture made a tangible, positive difference. ⭐ Przemysław Pokrywka ⭐ Husband, dad, grandad, software engineer. Functional Scala enthusiast with imperative OOP Java background. Fan of the command line. **🗣️ David Lebl: Complexity is a Sin, But Hexagons Forgive** A visual journey from spaghetti to sanity. This talk traces how cognitive load accumulates in unconstrained codebases, how domain-driven design and bounded contexts restore order, and how hexagonal architecture provides a practical, forgiving structure for real-world systems — all laid out on a single zoomable canvas where every example links back to the bigger picture. ⭐ David Lebl ⭐ David is a software developer with a CS background and 5 years of Scala and FP experience. He leads a small team, occasionally survives his own accidental complexity, and is here to share what he learned the hard way. ———————————————————— 🗣️ Would you like to present, but are not sure how to start? Give a talk with us and you'll receive mentorship from a trained toastmaster! Get in touch through [this form](https://forms.gle/zv5i9eeto1BsnSwe8) and we'll get you started 🏡 Interested in hosting or supporting us? Please get in touch through [this form](https://forms.gle/3SX3Bm6zHqVodBaMA) and we can discuss how you can get involved. 📜 All London Scala User Group events operate under the [Scala Community Code of Conduct](https://www.scala-lang.org/conduct/). We encourage each of you to report the breach of the conduct, either anonymously through [this form](https://forms.gle/9PMMorUWgBnbk1mm6) or by contacting one of our team members. We guarantee privacy and confidentiality, as well as that we will take your report seriously and react quickly.

**Hello there!** Our Face-to-Face Afternoon Classes are back this June in London! Are you learning English as a second language and looking for an opportunity to practise your English? Interested in **free, in-person classes**? We’ve got you covered! Here at **Stafford House,** our teachers-in-training are gaining hands-on experience by teaching enthusiastic English learners. Each lesson is interactive and fun, with plenty of opportunities to practise speaking, meet other learners, and improve your English along the way. We also offer **free online English classes**. Check out our other events for more information! Please see the **updated** details below! 🕑 **When:** From **8th June - 2nd July (4 weeks)** ➡️**Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays** 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. ➡️**Fridays** 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m 📍 **Where:** Stafford House London, 2 Southampton Place, WC1A 2DA (just 2 minutes from Holborn Station) 📚 **Level: Both levels available** **\- Pre\-Intermediate \(A2\-B1\)** **\- Upper\-Intermediate \(B2\)** Spaces are limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Please arrive **15- 30 minutes early** to secure your spot. We will ask for your name and email upon arrival. *Please note⚠️ confirming attendance on Meetup does not guarantee a place in the classroom.* **Please note that class times or dates may occasionally change due to the nature of the course. If this happens, we will inform you by email.** We look forward to seeing you all very soon! Got Questions? send us an email at [[[teachertraining@staffordhouse.com](mailto:teachertraining@staffordhouse.com)]

This June we reach the incredible milestone of 100 meetups, and we're heading to Matt's dayjob's great new offices near Old Street to celebrate. The evening includes a session to mark our 100th meetup with some special guests, and drinks and food for everyone. **Schedule** 6:00pm -Arrival 6:45pm - Introductions 7:00pm - The Talks **Matt Saunders & Marc Cluet - London DevOps 100: Some Reflections from the last 100 events with some special guests** To mark the milestone, London DevOps organisers Matt Saunders and Marc Cluet take the stage to look back over the journey from event one to event one hundred. Expect highlights from the talks that shaped the community, the trends that came and went and a few honest reflections on how both London DevOps and DevOps itself have changed over the years. They will be joined by some special guests and familiar old faces from across the last hundred events to share their own memories and stories. Part celebration, part trip down memory lane, and a proper thank you to everyone who has made it what it is. The previously advertised talk from Super Group will not go ahead. **Speak at a future meetup** If you'd like to speak at a future meetup, or if you're able to host or sponsor the event, please fill in this [form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FYGHEWTeBb5vVztGGg2YoUJmKR03o9mZaFIghf6vjzo/viewform?edit_requested=true) and we'll get back to you.

This Meet Up is a chance to practice speaking English while meeting new people and making new friends from all over the world. The classes are fun, friendly and informal and we cover a variety of topics. I correct you and give you help with grammar and vocabulary as we go, so you can improve as you speak. I look forward to welcoming you and having a good conversation with you in English soon! TO FIND US: The class is in the CAFÉ on the FIRST FLOOR of the library. In the UK, the first floor is one floor ABOVE the ground floor. From the main entrance, go up the stairs or escalators straight ahead of you. Walk round to your left and you'll see the café. I'll have a sign with 'Meetup' and your names.

Welcome to our June event. We're delighted to welcome [Marina Kim](https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinawebdev/), Tech Lead, Vidatec and [Damien Jones](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrdamienjones/), AWS Consultant, Steamhaus You've seen the AgentCore demos. **Marina** has taken them into production, and lived to tell the tale. Tonight she's giving us the engineering reality behind building AI agents on AWS with Amazon Bedrock and tooling: what breaks, what costs you, and what actually ships. Five weeks. A brand new business. A Crufts deadline. **Damien** didn't whiteboard this one - he shipped it. Tonight he's walking us through every decision that made it possible: AWS CDK, Amplify, Q Developer, and Kiro working together under real pressure. A big thank you to our sponsors [Cloudscaler](https://rebrand.ly/cloudscaler), [Rayo](https://rebrand.ly/rayo-cloud) & [The Scale Factory](https://rebrand.ly/scalefactory) Programme: 18:00: Arrival, registration 18:15: Talks start 20:00: Networking with food and a drink provided by the generosity of our sponsors. Talk 1: ***AgentCore vs Reality: Lessons from Building AI Agents on AWS with Marina Kim*** In this talk, I will explore the reality of what happens when you try to build an AI agent on AWS using Amazon Bedrock and tool calling, inspired by still new and emerging AgentCore patterns. Through a live demo and practical examples, I’ll walk through what worked, what didn't work, and the unexpected challenges that appear when moving from theory to implementation, including hallucinations, incorrect tool usage, and trade-offs around cost and latency. The goal is to give a realistic, engineering-first perspective on building agentic systems today, and help developers understand where these patterns are useful and where they still fall short. By the end of this talk, you’ll have a clear understanding of how to approach building AI agents on AWS, what pitfalls to expect, and how to make informed decisions when applying agentic patterns in real-world systems. **Learning Takeaways** * How to approach building AI agents on AWS using Amazon Bedrock and tool calling, with focus on emerging AgentCore patterns * What actually happens when you move from theory to implementation, including common failure modes like hallucinations, incorrect tool usage, and overconfident decisions. * How to iteratively improve an agent by testing, identifying issues, and introducing guardrails and constraints * How to evaluate trade-offs between autonomy, reliability, cost, and latency in agentic systems **Marina** is a Tech Lead at Vidatec working with web, mobile, MS Teams and AI solutions across multiple industries. She has significant experience working with AWS services, managing deployments and maintenance across multiple production workloads. Marina is a founder of Catbytes - online community for women in tech and a co-organiser of AWS UG UK and AWS AI In Practice community events Talk 2: ***Best in Show: Building a Crufts-Ready AWS Business Platform in 5 Weeks with Damien Jones*** A new dog training business is launched. You have 5 weeks to develop a new production-ready platform before Crufts: the world's biggest dog show. Could you deliver? In this talk, I'll share the real-world journey of building WolfieAndFriends on AWS. We'll review my architectural choices, "build vs buy" decisions and the trade-offs made during those hectic early days. You'll learn how to use AWS serverless, IaC and AI services to enable rapid delivery, shorten development times and transform a greenfield project into a professional, scalable platform that pays the bills. Whether you're a startup founder or an enterprise dev, you'll walk away with a blueprint for rapid delivery without sacrificing long-term stability. Expect Amplify, CDK, Q Developer, Kiro and more! **Learning Takeaways** * How to make fast, defensible architectural decisions under genuine time pressure. * How to use AWS CDK, Amplify Gen 2, Q Developer, and Kiro as an integrated rapid-delivery stack. * Practical "build vs buy" trade-offs: what to own, what to delegate, and how to decide. * How serverless IaC enables safe iteration from greenfield to production. * A reusable blueprint for going from zero to a scalable, paying platform in weeks — not months. **Damien** is an AWS consultant, data specialist, and cloud enthusiast with a strong record of designing, building, and optimising cloud-native solutions. He has extensive knowledge of data engineering, DevOps and cloud architectures, fueled by a passion for using emerging technologies to solve complex problems and support data-driven decision making. Damien is also active in the cloud community, serving as a content creator, user group leader and public speaker. **Do you have a story to share?** If you are interested in speaking at one of our events, please check out our [call for papers here](https://awsuguk.org/call-for-papers/). We are advocates for greater inclusion & diversity in UK Tech and are especially keen to receive talk submissions from people in underrepresented groups. If you are interested in speaking at a future meetup but would like to discuss what to expect or need assistance, please contact our Inclusion & Diversity Lead Natalie Gray - graynataliej@gmail.com or DM her [@natjgray](https://twitter.com/natjgray) Check out our [website](https://awsuguk.org/) for more information about our community and our code of conduct. Remember to follow us [@AWSUserGroupUK](https://twitter.com/AWSUserGroupUK) and on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/aws-ug-uk) for the latest updates, and you can find videos of our past meetups [here.](https://awsuguk.org/our-videos/)

Join us for the **Cloud Native & Open Source AI Conference**, a full-day, in-person event bringing together engineers, architects, platform teams, AI practitioners, technical leaders, and open-source communities working at the intersection of **cloud-native infrastructure, open-source AI, and production-scale systems**. **MAKE SURE TO REGISTER HERE: https://www.communitystack.io/conferences/cloud-native-london USE CODE: CommunityStack for a free ticket** ## Opening Keynote **Evolving the Kubernetes User Experience: More Intuitive, More Extensible, More Agentic** With: **Andrew Randall** — Principal PM, Office of the CPO, Microsoft **Pal Lakatos-Toth** — Senior Product Manager, Microsoft Kubernetes has become the default platform for modern workloads, and increasingly for AI systems. This keynote will explore how the Kubernetes user experience is evolving for both humans learning the platform and AI agents operating within it, with a focus on usability, governance and production readiness. ## Full Conference Programme **09:00 – 09:30** Doors Open **09:30 – 10:15** Opening Keynote: *Evolving the Kubernetes User Experience: More Intuitive, More Extensible, More Agentic* Andrew Randall, Microsoft Pal Lakatos-Toth, Microsoft **10:15 – 11:00** Panel: *From HFT to Enterprise Banking: The Talent War for Cloud Native, Open Source and AI Engineers* Moderated by Ethan Sumner, Community Stack Craig Whiting, RLS Search Jon Freedman, Quant Fin **11:30 – 12:00** *The Massively Parallel Agent Stack* Peter Bhabra, Doubleword **12:00 – 12:30** *Controlling AI Agent Access in Cloud-Native Engineering Workflows* Viola Lykova, nuclecode **12:30 – 13:00** *Preventing Silent Interpretation Errors at Scale* Maebh Booth, Senior Engineering Leader, Former M&S **14:00 – 14:30** *Prompt Driven Platforms: The Future of Self-Service Infrastructure* Salman Iqbal & Amir Tayabali, Appvia **14:30 – 15:00** *Platform as a Product: What Happens When We Treat Security as a User?* Hannah Foxwell, Bimp **15:00 – 15:30** *Beyond the Portal: Architecting AI-Native Platforms with CNOE and MCP* Hossein Salahi, Liquid Reply **16:00 – 16:45** *Intro to Apache Kafka on Aiven: From Managed Simplicity to Inkless Architectures* Hugh Evans, Aiven **16:45 – 17:15** Closing Keynote: *The Age of “Big Tech” is Over* Sean M Tracey, Mitchell Technologies **17:15 – 17:30** Closing Remarks Ethan Sumner, Community Stack Mercedes Moxon Greenfield, Community Stack ## Speakers We are delighted to welcome an exceptional speaker lineup, including: Andrew Randall — Principal PM, Office of the CPO, Microsoft Pal Lakatos-Toth — Senior Product Manager, Microsoft Peter Bhabra — Member of Technical Staff, Doubleword Viola Lykova — Senior Software Engineer, nuclecode Hannah Foxwell — Co-Founder, Bimp Sean M Tracey — Founding Technologist, Mitchell Technologies Craig Whiting — Director, RLS Search Jon Freedman — Chief Technology Officer, Quant Fin Ben Davison — Founder, Axiologik Salman Iqbal — Solutions Architect, Appvia Amir Tayabali — Tech Lead, Appvia Maebh Booth — Senior Engineering Leader, Former M&S Hossein Salahi — Senior Principal Engineer, Liquid Reply Jon Shanks — CEO, Appvia Hugh Evans — Senior Product Advocate, Aiven Ethan Sumner — Co-Founder & CEO, Community Stack Mercedes Moxon Greenfield — Co-Founder & CTO, Community Stack ## Sponsors and Partners This conference is made possible through the support of our sponsors and partners: **Headline Sponsor** BrainStation **Platinum Sponsors** Overmind Appvia Harvey Nash Axiologik **AI Native Sponsor** Nearform **Supporting Sponsors and Partners** RLS Search Doubleword Postman X4 Group Engaging Data BIMP Aiven If you'd like to get involved with a future event, please email: ethan.sumner@communitystack.io

Join us for the **Cloud Native & Open Source AI Conference**, a full-day, in-person event bringing together engineers, architects, platform teams, AI practitioners, technical leaders, and open-source communities working at the intersection of **cloud-native infrastructure, open-source AI, and production-scale systems**. **MAKE SURE TO REGISTER HERE: https://www.communitystack.io/conferences/cloud-native-london USE CODE: CommunityStack for a free ticket** ## Opening Keynote **Evolving the Kubernetes User Experience: More Intuitive, More Extensible, More Agentic** With: **Andrew Randall** — Principal PM, Office of the CPO, Microsoft **Pal Lakatos-Toth** — Senior Product Manager, Microsoft Kubernetes has become the default platform for modern workloads, and increasingly for AI systems. This keynote will explore how the Kubernetes user experience is evolving for both humans learning the platform and AI agents operating within it, with a focus on usability, governance and production readiness. ## Full Conference Programme **09:00 – 09:30** Doors Open **09:30 – 10:15** Opening Keynote: *Evolving the Kubernetes User Experience: More Intuitive, More Extensible, More Agentic* Andrew Randall, Microsoft Pal Lakatos-Toth, Microsoft **10:15 – 11:00** Panel: *From HFT to Enterprise Banking: The Talent War for Cloud Native, Open Source and AI Engineers* Moderated by Ethan Sumner, Community Stack Craig Whiting, RLS Search Jon Freedman, Quant Fin **11:30 – 12:00** *The Massively Parallel Agent Stack* Peter Bhabra, Doubleword **12:00 – 12:30** *Controlling AI Agent Access in Cloud-Native Engineering Workflows* Viola Lykova, nuclecode **12:30 – 13:00** *Preventing Silent Interpretation Errors at Scale* Maebh Booth, Senior Engineering Leader, Former M&S **14:00 – 14:30** *Prompt Driven Platforms: The Future of Self-Service Infrastructure* Salman Iqbal & Amir Tayabali, Appvia **14:30 – 15:00** *Platform as a Product: What Happens When We Treat Security as a User?* Hannah Foxwell, Bimp **15:00 – 15:30** *Beyond the Portal: Architecting AI-Native Platforms with CNOE and MCP* Hossein Salahi, Liquid Reply **16:00 – 16:45** *Intro to Apache Kafka on Aiven: From Managed Simplicity to Inkless Architectures* Hugh Evans, Aiven **16:45 – 17:15** Closing Keynote: *The Age of “Big Tech” is Over* Sean M Tracey, Mitchell Technologies **17:15 – 17:30** Closing Remarks Ethan Sumner, Community Stack Mercedes Moxon Greenfield, Community Stack ## Speakers We are delighted to welcome an exceptional speaker lineup, including: Andrew Randall — Principal PM, Office of the CPO, Microsoft Pal Lakatos-Toth — Senior Product Manager, Microsoft Peter Bhabra — Member of Technical Staff, Doubleword Viola Lykova — Senior Software Engineer, nuclecode Hannah Foxwell — Co-Founder, Bimp Sean M Tracey — Founding Technologist, Mitchell Technologies Craig Whiting — Director, RLS Search Jon Freedman — Chief Technology Officer, Quant Fin Ben Davison — Founder, Axiologik Salman Iqbal — Solutions Architect, Appvia Amir Tayabali — Tech Lead, Appvia Maebh Booth — Senior Engineering Leader, Former M&S Hossein Salahi — Senior Principal Engineer, Liquid Reply Jon Shanks — CEO, Appvia Hugh Evans — Senior Product Advocate, Aiven Ethan Sumner — Co-Founder & CEO, Community Stack Mercedes Moxon Greenfield — Co-Founder & CTO, Community Stack ## Sponsors and Partners This conference is made possible through the support of our sponsors and partners: **Headline Sponsor** BrainStation **Platinum Sponsors** Overmind Appvia Harvey Nash Axiologik **AI Native Sponsor** Nearform **Supporting Sponsors and Partners** RLS Search Doubleword Postman X4 Group Engaging Data BIMP Aiven If you'd like to get involved with a future event, please email: ethan.sumner@communitystack.io

**MONTY ENGLISH CONVERSATION GROUP** [https://montyenglish.co.uk/english-conversation-group-classes-in-london](https://montyenglish.co.uk/english-conversation-group-classes-in-london) **How to find us** When you arrive at the Royal George we go down into the basement and you will find us there. Just ask a staff member if you cannot find us! Here is the location of the Royal George on google maps: [https://maps.app.goo.gl/HpkySsu2rEqUUub1A](https://maps.app.goo.gl/HpkySsu2rEqUUub1A) * Food or drink at the pub is not included (please make at least one purchase - they have a good range of drinks and great food if you feel hungry) **How are the lessons?** The lesson is a General English lesson focused on speaking and error correction - every lesson we usually cover 3 different topics. This will encourage you to use new vocabulary and practise grammatical structures. The group has a limit of 25 people but I usually accept people if you are on the waiting list. You will be divided into groups of 3-6 with others of a similar speaking level so you'll have plenty of opportunity to talk and ask questions to your qualified, native teacher Jon. The lesson takes place in the relaxed environment of the Royal George basement which is a pleasant pub, a two-minute walk from Tottenham Court Road tube station. The lesson is ideal for pre-intermediate, intermediate and upper-intermediate students wishing to get to the next level. If you have any questions about the English lesson then please call me or send me a message. **Payment** Payments can be made in cash or by card (free of charge) when you come to the class. If it is your first time it is only £2! After your first time it is £6 for a single class or you can buy a ticket that makes each class cheaper; 5 classes for £20, 10 classes for £25 (you can use these tickets whenever you like and do not need to come in a set period of time) or 20 classes for £40 which has a limited use to within a six-month period. You can also pay via our website: [https://montyenglish.co.uk/english-conversation-group-classes-in-london](https://montyenglish.co.uk/english-conversation-group-classes-in-london) I hope to see you soon - if you have any questions please message me (via WhatsApp) on 07771 561 576 All the best, Jon (event organiser)

### AImpact: Leading With A Product Mindset Artificial Intelligence is changing how we work, lead, innovate, and create value. Yet many professionals still find themselves asking: * Where do I start? * Which AI tools actually matter? * How can I use AI without becoming overwhelmed? * How do I focus on outcomes rather than technology? This highly interactive 90-minute masterclass answers those questions. Rather than focusing on technology for technology's sake, this session explores how a **product mindset** can help individuals and organisations use AI to deliver better outcomes, improve decision-making, increase productivity, and create meaningful impact. Whether you work in project management, product management, business, education, consulting, the charity sector, or community leadership, you will leave with practical tools that can be applied immediately. ### What You Will Learn ✅ Understanding AI beyond the hype ✅ The AImpact approach to AI adoption ✅ Why a Product Mindset matters in the age of AI ✅ Practical AI use cases for professionals and organisations ✅ AI tools that can save hours every week ✅ How to identify high-value AI opportunities in your work ✅ Human-centred AI adoption and responsible use ✅ Building your own AI-enabled workflow ✅ Creating your personal 90-day AI Action Plan ### Live Demonstrations This is not a slide presentation. Participants will see live demonstrations of AI tools, practical workflows, prompt techniques, and real-world applications that can be implemented immediately. The session will include audience interaction and hands-on exercises. ### Who Should Attend? * Project Managers * Product Managers * Business Leaders * Consultants * Entrepreneurs * Educators * Charity Leaders * Community Organisations * Anyone interested in practical AI adoption No technical background is required. ### Important 💻 Please bring a laptop if possible. While attendees can participate using a mobile device, a laptop will provide a significantly better learning experience and allow you to follow along with the demonstrations and exercises. ### What You Will Leave With By the end of the session, you will have: * A clearer understanding of AI opportunities relevant to your role * A practical framework for AI adoption * A curated set of tools and resources * A personalised 90-day implementation plan * Confidence to begin using AI effectively and responsibly ### Speakers #### Amit Jadhav Entrepreneur, author, keynote speaker, coach, and AI strategist who has delivered hundreds of speaking engagements and AI masterclasses across India and the United States. Amit specialises in helping professionals and organisations adopt AI in practical, measurable ways. #### Himanshu Jain Management consultant, educator, product management specialist, and community leader. Himanshu teaches product and project management at postgraduate level and works with organisations across sectors to improve delivery, innovation, and impact.

Join us at the **Rise London Tech Ladies Fringe Summit**, an inspiring gathering taking place alongside London Tech Week — bringing together innovators, leaders, founders, and allies who are passionate about building a more inclusive future in technology. [Please register here](https://londontechweek.com/fringe-events-2026/rise-london-tech-ladies-fringe-summit-london-tech-week?&ownerid=71733&sortby=ownerorder%20ASC%2CpublishedDate%20DESC&searchgroup=libraryentry-fringe-events-2026) This year, we explore three powerful conversations shaping the future of tech: ✨ **The Asymmetric Impact of AI** ✨ **Building a Global Business in a Digital Age** 💡 **Women & FinTech** 🥂 **Closing Networking Drinks from 8:00 PM** Stay after the summit to continue conversations, meet fellow innovators, exchange ideas, and build meaningful connections within London’s vibrant tech community. Hear from trailblazers in fintech who are redefining finance through innovation, entrepreneurship, and ethical technology. Discover how women are shaping the future of digital finance, investment, and financial inclusion. This summit is open to **everyone** — founders, technologists, investors, students, corporate leaders, and allies — who believe in empowering women in tech and accelerating diverse leadership across the industry. 🌍 Connect. Learn. Collaborate. Let’s build a tech ecosystem where opportunity, innovation, and leadership are truly inclusive.

We are back! This is going to be a monthly IN PERSON meet up in London. A very big thank you goes to Accurx who is hosting us in their amazing Shoreditch offices. This will include access to facilities including coffee! 😻☕️ **Want to know more? 👇** As with all CoffeeOps, this is an interactive, chatty, build your own adventure type of meet-up. Instead of booking in experts to *learn* *from*, we gather a group of practitioners to ***learn*** ***with***. We have been running for over 4 years now and often get feedback that this is the most useful meetup people join! The event is approximately 90 minutes and always starts by brainstorming topics to discuss. The group then votes on the most relevant/interesting to them and we then cycle through the topics trying to discuss each deeply, but in a time bound slot. To get an idea of topics, you can check out our remote board [here](https://easyretro.io/publicboard/h404NF84Uje4tCcxpJdHr4Ycs9B3/a4a35d2b-181b-409b-832e-a729be1af79c). The general gist is anything is fair game, though we tend to revolve around software delivery and definitely lean towards the more Ops-y or DevOps-y side of things.

**Note this is a ticketed event, please purchase a ticket from here to attend.** 🚀 Ready for the UK's premier Microsoft Community event? Experts Live UK is back and bigger than ever! 🚀 If you want to skyrocket your technical skills, forge invaluable industry connections, and get a front-row seat to the future of Microsoft technology, you need to be in the room. This year’s edition is a powerhouse of practical knowledge split across two action-packed days! 🌐 Event Details: 📍 Location: London 📅 Date: Thursday – Friday, June 11–12, 2026 🎟️ Website & Tickets: [eluk26.expertslive.co.uk](https://eluk26.expertslive.co.uk/) 📅 Agenda at a Glance: The Ultimate Two-Day Formula We are changing the game this year. The conference is structured into two distinct, high-impact days designed to give you the ultimate learning experience: * DAY 1 (June 11) – 5 Elite Deep-Dive Hands-On Workshops: Bring your laptop, log into real lab environments, and configure systems side-by-side with Microsoft MVPs. No endless slide decks—just pure, practical implementation. Choose your elite track from the 5 available core topics: Intune, Entra, Agents, Fabric, and Power Platform. Wrap up the day at our legendary Evening Happy Hour with complimentary drinks, canapés, and great music! * DAY 2 (June 12) – Dynamic Breakout Sessions & Keynotes: A highly-charged, multi-track day featuring 35 expert-led sessions, live technical demonstrations, real-world field experiences, and the latest enterprise announcements. To help you navigate the ultimate Day 2 experience, the sessions are organized into core cutting-edge pillars directly sourced from the official agenda: * 🤖 The AI & Data Agent Track: Demystify the enterprise AI landscape! Dive deep with core sessions focused on real-world engineering and architecture, including "Navigating the Copilot Maze: Choose the Right AI Agent for Your Enterprise", "Architecting multi-agent solutions with Copilot Studio vs. M365 Agents Toolkit", and "Building & Scalable Enterprise AI Agents". Plus, learn common pitfalls to avoid in "You Give Agents A Bad Name: Key Copilot Studio Mistakes To Avoid", accelerate organizational rollout with "GitHub Copilot Adoption: Lessons Learned", prepare your architecture via "Containers first, files next: a layered path to Copilot readiness in Microsoft 365", and enhance analytics using "Conversational Experiences in Microsoft Fabric with Data Agents". * 🔐 The Next-Gen Security & Identity Track: Arm your defenses with frontline security infrastructure tactics. Learn to build modern network perimeters with "Zero Trust Network Access with Microsoft Entra Private Access", accelerate incident containment using AI via "AI-Speed IAM Response with Microsoft Security Copilot", and secure data using "Securing AI Apps and Agents with Microsoft Purview & Beyond" alongside "Signal Over Noise: AI-Powered Data Security at Speed and Scale". Master forensic cloud investigations with "Sherlock in the Cloud: Solving Compliance and Investigation Mysteries with Microsoft Purview", leverage AI monitoring via "AI-Driven: Modernising Enterprise Security with Microsoft Sentinel", and discover how to "Strengthen cyber resilience for Entra ID and Microsoft 365". * 💻 The Modern Endpoint, Cloud PC & Infrastructure Track: Walk away with actionable field blueprints directly from deployment experts. Catch live infrastructure configurations in "What’s New in Windows 365 & AVD: Live Demos, Real-World Practices, and the Future of Cloud PCs", explore virtualization strategies with "Choosing the Right VDI & DaaS Strategy in 2026: A Practical Guide for Real-World Use Cases", and streamline endpoint compliance with "OpenIntuneBaseline 101 - Intune Easy Mode". Maximize your environments using "What to watch when configuring your Intune tenant - notes from the field", "Ten(-ish) learnings from ten years of Windows Autopilot", "Simplifying Android Enterprise Management: Selecting the Right Mode for Your Organization", and master advanced telemetry through "Mastering KQL: A Guide for Endpoint Admins". * 📊 The Workplace Productivity & Power Stack Track: Supercharge business processes, data flows, and team collaboration. Discover advanced analytics integrations with "Dataverse, Power BI and Microsoft Fabric", optimize dashboard creation using "AI for Power BI Professionals: The Prompt Pack That Actually Makes You Better at Your Job" and "Wireframes to Wow: Building Beautiful Power BI Dashboards in Minutes". Learn how to clean up digital workspaces in "Spark joy in Microsoft 365: Marie Kondo your data", organize deployment rollouts with "Everything under control: The new Microsoft Planner as a command center for projects", and tackle workforce deployment challenges in "Solved: The challenge of onboarding and involving mobile first users". 🌟 Don't miss inspirational and vital community panels including "The Human Hack: The Future of Consulting Culture", "Neurodiversity in the Workplace: Stories of Struggles and Superpowers", and "Women in Tech: Real Stories, Real Change." 🎯 Why You CANNOT Miss This This isn't just another passive webinar where you sit back and scroll through your phone. Experts Live UK 2026 is built for real impact. * Top-Tier Global Speakers: Learn directly from internationally recognized Microsoft MVPs, community champions, and tech leaders who are deploying these solutions at scale every single day. * The Most In-Demand Tech Skills: From Agentic AI and Fabric to cutting-edge Entra ID security and Intune policies. You’ll walk away with skills that immediately increase your market value. * Unmatched Community Vibes: Network during the Vendor Expo, ask your burning questions in MVP roundtable discussions, and unwind at the end of Day 1 at our Happy Hour with complimentary food, drinks, and career-changing conversations! 🎟️ Secure Your Ticket Before They Sell Out! Because Day 1 features fully interactive, hands-on labs, seats across the 5 workshops are strictly limited to ensure a high-quality experience for every attendee. Don't wait—invest in your career and become the go-to Microsoft expert in your organization. Your ticket is an all-inclusive pass to premium growth: * Full access to your choice of the 5 hands-on workshops and all 35 Day 2 breakout sessions, * Catering, coffee, and refreshments throughout both days, * Entry to the official Expo and the evening networking parties (complete with free drinks and food!). * 👉 Get your ticket now: [Experts Live UK 2026 - Registration](https://eluk26.expertslive.co.uk/) See you in London!

Discover Inner Engineering in Columbus! Saturday June 13th Choose a location & Time: Holiday Inn Express : 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Rangoli -The Indian Mall: 7:00 PM -8:00 PM [RSVP](https://innerengineering.sadhguru.org/columbus?fbclid=IwdGRzaASVdldjbGNrBJV2TmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHmTH5dVmwyksT8x39dKxCZZPJm96hYF7q4m6CmzfjsgJ14o3X4jux71er_mq_aem_W51vRnuLMzlDtxYJWPuqKg&sfnsn=wa)

Discover Inner Engineering in Columbus! Saturday June 13th Choose a location & Time: Holiday Inn Express : 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Rangoli -The Indian Mall: 7:00 PM -8:00 PM [RSVP](https://innerengineering.sadhguru.org/columbus?fbclid=IwdGRzaASVdldjbGNrBJV2TmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHmTH5dVmwyksT8x39dKxCZZPJm96hYF7q4m6CmzfjsgJ14o3X4jux71er_mq_aem_W51vRnuLMzlDtxYJWPuqKg&sfnsn=wa)

Most people still use AI like a search box: type one question, get one answer, repeat. But the next step is AI agents: systems that can take a goal, break it into steps, use tools, remember context, and produce useful work for a human to review. In this beginner-friendly session, we’ll demystify what AI agents actually are — without hype or jargon. We’ll walk through practical examples of how agents can help with research, planning, writing, coding, operations, and personal productivity. We’ll cover: * What makes an AI “agent” instead of just a chatbot * How agents break tasks into steps * Where agents are genuinely useful today * Where they fail, hallucinate, or need human review * How to design simple AI workflows for your own work * A live demo of an AI agent-style workflow from start to finish No coding experience required. This is for anyone who wants to understand where AI tools are going and how to use them more effectively right now. LOGISTICS AND PARKING: The talk starts at 7:00 PM. The first half hour is reserved for everyone to get set up and mingle. Free pizza and drinks! The cheapest parking option is to find street parking, which will only cost you a few bucks. Otherwise, park in the nearby veteran's museum lot for $8. It's highly recommended you avoid the nearby $15 garage parking.

QA or the Highway is a one-day, affordable, regional, professional conference featuring real-world experience and thought leadership in the QA and testing industry. This is a ticketed event please register here: https://www.qaorthehwy.com/ Featured Keynote Speakers: **Matthew-Hope Eland** **(Wizard at Leading EDJE)** \- An AI Specialist and Wizard at Leading EDJE who is known to teach software engineering\, AI\, and data science concepts in the most ridiculous ways possible\. Matt has used machine learning to settle debates over whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie\, reinforcement learning to drive the behavior of digital squirrels\, data analytics to suggest improvements to his favorite TV show\, and AI agents to play board games and create an AI agent with the personality of a dog\. Matt is the author of "Data Science in \.NET with Polyglot Notebooks" and "Refactoring with C\#" as well as several LinkedIn Learning courses\. Matt helps organize the Central Ohio \.NET Developer Group\, runs several blogs and a YouTube channel\, has a Master’s of Science in Data Analytics\, and is a current Microsoft MVP in AI and \.NET\. **Tatyana Arbouzova** **(CEO at Innovate QA)** \- Tatyana Arbouzova is an engineering and business leader with a strong background in Quality Engineering across multiple industries\, including Big Tech\, Healthcare\, and Entertainment\. She has held leadership roles at world\-class companies such as Microsoft\, VMware\, Disney\, and The Pokémon Company International\, where she focused on building quality\-driven cultures and scaling teams to deliver high\-impact products\. With decades of experience\, Tatyana has helped organizations transform their quality practices so teams can deliver software efficiently\, confidently\, and with measurable business outcomes\. Today\, Tatyana advises software companies on adopting AI to optimize quality practices and improve how software is delivered at scale\. She is also a passionate community builder and the founder of Innovate QA\, a thriving Seattle\-based community and conference for quality professionals\.

**The Behavior Gap: Where Products Win or Lose** Teams today have more data than ever, and yet many still struggle to understand why customers adopt, engage with, or abandon their products. Teams sprint, ship faster, and chase more signals… all while metrics stall and confidence drops. The missing piece isn’t more data. It’s often the behavioral insight between the metrics, explaining why the numbers move in the first place. Dashboards can tell you what customers did, but understanding why they did it (and how to influence what they do next) requires a deeper blend of insights. This session is about closing that gap. Drawing from real-world experience designing and scaling products as [ZoCo Design](https://zocodesign.com/)’s CEO, [Lacey](https://www.linkedin.com/in/laceypicazo/) will share how to cut through the noise and identify the insights that actually change behavior—moving people, and moving metrics. You’ll learn: * Why understanding customer behavior is a quant and qual challenge * How to spot the signals that actually predict behavior change * Where AI accelerates insight, and where it creates distraction * How to get meaningfully closer to customers, without adding more tools This talk reframes how to evaluate performance and identify what levers actually improve it, helping your team to make smarter bets with greater confidence. Every meaningful outcome is driven by behavior change. And when you know how to design for behavior, you stop guessing, and start building things that work. **About Our Speaker** [Lacey Picazo](https://www.linkedin.com/in/laceypicazo/) is the Founder and CEO of ZoCo, a healthcare product studio that turns complex, high-stakes ideas into products that drive real-world adoption. She partners with healthcare organizations to uncover critical care delivery insights, focus product strategy through behavior design, and build solutions that patients and providers actually use. Thanks to our 2026 sponsors: [Clarivoy](https://www.clarivoy.com), [What Box Consulting Group](https://www.whatboxconsultinggroup.com), [Conductrics](https://www.conductrics.com), and [Piwik PRO](https://piwik.pro) More info at [cbusdaw.com](https://cbusdaw.com)

## 🤝 Host Information A co-hosted event by ProductTank Columbus & Women in Product Columbus 💡 About the Workshop AI adoption is stalling across organizations — not because of a lack of motivation or tools, but because it's fundamentally a behavior design challenge. This hands-on workshop applies proven Behavior Design models and methods to help you move from a vague organizational wish to boost AI adoption to 3-5 concrete, testable interventions you can act on starting tomorrow. Whether you're a product manager, on a product team, or just someone trying to get AI to actually stick at work, you'll leave with a clear picture of what's worth focusing on, what to ignore, and how to drive real, sustained adoption — no guesswork required. 🛠️ What to Bring Laptop: Fully charged and ready to go. AI Assistant: Have your favorite AI assistant pulled up. (Dom will be using Claude, but feel free to use whichever assistant you prefer!) 🍕 Logistics & Perks Food & Drink: Pizza and drinks provided! Parking: Plenty of free spaces available on-site. ###

Over a billion documents processed. Millions of Veterans impacted. Hundreds of thousands of employee hours saved. Faster decisions. Greater accuracy. More benefits in the hands of our disabled Veterans. We created Smart Search, the world’s largest consumer of Amazon Textract, right when GenAI began reshaping what’s possible. Since then, we’ve built a suite of AI‑driven solutions that transform this data into real, measurable outcomes—accelerating benefits decisions for our Nation’s Veterans. Join us for a focused conversation on how an outcome‑driven approach to AI is helping us boost accuracy, streamline workflows, and deliver faster results for those who have served. This is a follow up to the AWS re:Invent 2023 "Intelligent Document Processing with Gen AI for Public Sector" presentation. About Speaker: Cameron Williams is a Senior Technical Project Manager and cross-functional technical leader at Booz Allen Hamilton with 15+ years of experience architecting and evolving scalable, cloud-native systems, from greenfield development to complex enterprise modernization. https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameronw711/ **THANK YOU** *Franklin University* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Franklin University*, please visit their website: https://www.franklin.edu/ **DIRECTIONS** Franklin University Fisher Hall 300 E. Main St, Columbus, OH 43215 Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jxjBA2hUmS5qrvhq8 Parking is FREE! Please park in Lot C in front of Fisher Hall. See attached map. NOTE: Map the address only. When mapping with Google Maps it may use the Fisher Hall at OSU, which is NOT correct. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com