Engineering Leadership

For our March meetup, we're back at the fabulous Accurx offices. We have two excellent talks lined up, the agenda will be: * 6:30pm - arrive, drinks, networking * 7:00pm - Welcome & Housekeeping * 7:15pm - **Talk 1: "Devops 2014 Revisited - a Dozen Years of Noise and Confusion"** It is 11th February 2014, a nervous Andy Burgin takes the stage at Agile Yorkshire and begins to share the current thinking from the burgeoning DevOps movement. Fast forward 12 years: DevOps is different — or is it? During a recent clear-out at chez Burgin, an old, forgotten laptop was discovered discarded between a box of floppy disks and a collection of old Computer Shopper magazines. While the laptop was no longer functional, a painstaking data recovery process rescued the files on its hard drive via a collection of old adaptors and half-working wires. Among the files saved from the Wakefield Council recycling centre was a copy of the very PowerPoint deck presented at that meetup 12 years earlier. But what was in this digital "time capsule"? What happened to DevOps? What did it become? Is it now a tool, a job title, or did something "bad" happen to it? Are the thoughts shared over a decade ago still relevant today? Join Andy as he looks at how we travelled from DevOps to Cloud, SRE, Platform Engineering, Team Topologies, Developer Experience, and VibeOps - Most importantly, we'll explore what the future of DevOps can learn from its past. **Speaker:** Andy Burgin, Principal Platform Engineer @ Flutter UK and Ireland *Andy is a Principal Platform Engineer at Flutter UK and Ireland. He considers himself a Kubernetes, AI and DevRel fettler, spending far too much of his spare time running software in containers that really shouldn't be. He is a small part of the organising team for DevOpsDays London and ran the DevOps meetup in Leeds for almost a decade hosting over 50 events. He’s attended and has spoken at a bunch of DevOps conferences and in his own words is an "all-round DevOps nuisance".* * 7.45pm - food, more drinks & networking * 8.00pm - **Talk** **2: "Navigating From Tension to Flow: A Human-Centred Guide to Overcoming Misalignment"** Behind every stalled project, missed milestone, or unclear decision is a story of tension between what people want, what’s needed, and what’s possible. But tension isn’t failure. It’s feedback. This talk explores how to recognize and respond to tension using Team Topologies principles, flow first thinking, and a healthy dose of human insight. We’ll show how organizational patterns, team boundaries, and interaction modes can either amplify or ease misalignment — and how trust, empathy, and bold conversation are just as important as structure, if not more so. Packed with real-world examples, this session blends organizational design with emotional intelligence to help you design for flow — and for people. **Speakers:** Faye Benfield, Product Leader, Independent & Rich Allen, Fast Flow Facilitator @ Conjurer *Faye Benfield is a Product Leader with over 15 years experience in product management, agile delivery and digital transformation. Specialising in helping organisations adopt product practices, Faye has a proven track record of embedding product teams, evolving ways of working, and aligning stakeholders to achieve strategic goals. Faye has held leadership roles, including Head of Product and Delivery at Parkinson’s UK and Head of Product at Comic Relief, where she spearheaded digital transformation initiatives and cultivated effective, people-centred teams. As a consultant at Armakuni, she combined hands-on coaching with practical tools and techniques to help clients navigate the complexities of product delivery, with a focus on balancing human dynamics and practical constraints.* *Rich Allen is a sociotechnical architect, consultant and creator of User Needs Mapping, a practical technique for aligning teams around what matters. With over 20 years’ experience across software engineering, technical leadership, and organisational design, Rich helps organisations reduce friction, clarify boundaries, and improve flow by working outside-in from real user needs. He was a foundational contributor to the development and teaching of Team Topologies, helping shape the core materials now used in Team Topologies training and consulting worldwide. Rich is the author of User Needs Mapping: Aligning Teams Around What Matters.* * 8.30pm onwards - drinks and networking. So, please come and join us, we look forward to seeing you there. The LOPUG team. * Food and drinks provided * Good time will be had by all

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 March event. We're delighted to welcome [Matt Johnson](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mhjwork/), CEO, Rayo, and [Dan Keely](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-keeley/), Principal Data Engineer, Rebura. **Matt** talks about hard-won AWS lessons on keeping cloud costs under control - plus a real “oops” story of how one small mistake can blow up your bill (and how to stop it happening again). **Dan** talks shares how hardware-style production thinking makes your data platforms more reliable, maintainable, and cheaper to run A big thank you to our sponsors [The Scale Factory](https://rebrand.ly/scalefactory) and [Cloudscaler](https://rebrand.ly/cloudscaler)! **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:** ***When things go wrong: Managing cost in the cloud with Matt Johnson.*** There are lots of sessions that talk about the theory of cost management and tooling available on AWS, but far less look at the real world challenges of using them in production, as well as the rough edges they have - not to mention what happens when things go wrong! In this session Matt will cover some of the hard lessons learned from working with AWS over the last 14 years, with a real-world example of how a simple mistake can cause problems, and how to avoid them in future. The presentation is aimed at both those new to AWS and to veterans of the platform, and also includes practical guidance on how to improve your cost management on AWS. Matt has been using AWS since 2011, including 8.5 years at AWS in the public sector tech org. He has presented at 6 separate re:Invents and dozens of other events, covering a wide range of topics. Now as CEO of Rayo, Matt continues to help customers deliver mission outcomes using cloud technology. **Talk 2:** ***Predictable Designs in Data Engineering on AWS with Dan Keeley.*** What if we treated data engineering systems the way world-class hardware teams treat products headed for mass production? John Teel (Texas Instruments) has spent years taking complex hardware from prototype to dependable, high-quality production at scale. In this talk, Dan borrows those “production-grade” principles - predictability, repeatability, and ruthless attention to failure modes, and translates them into practical patterns for building data platforms on AWS. This is less about any single AWS service and more about building data systems that behave consistently, even as requirements, volumes, and teams change. **What you’ll learn:** Attendees will leave with practical, reusable approaches they can apply immediately: * How to make systems maintainable * How to keep costs efficient without heroics * How to borrow best practices across engineering disciplines Dan is a community driven data engineer and now c-level team builder working with a wide range of Data technologies in the cloud. He is on the steering group for the biggest tech conference in London - BigDataLDN. He has won a number of awards, including being named in the top 50 data leaders and influencers in the UK. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- 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. 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 on [YouTube](http://bit.ly/2dZnvEE). If you want to chat with other members, join our [Community Discord Server](https://discord.gg/yMa8Rvtsmy).

Our first 'class cultural trip' was really fun so I'm carrying on the series and we're going to keep exploring the British Museum. The idea is we'll meet in the cafe at the British Museum, and then choose which part of the museum we want to explore. We'll walk around it, stopping to look at things we find interesting. I'll help you with the vocabulary you need to talk about what you can see. At the end we'll go back to the cafe to summarise what we've learnt and do a little vocabulary test to see what you can remember from your visit! If you are late, don't worry too much, because we will stay in the cafe until everyone has arrived and then start exploring the museum. I hope to make 'cultural visit classes' to museums/ exhibitions/ galleries into a regular event so let me know which places you are interested in. I plan to choose places that have free entry. I need a minimum of 2 students to run this Meetup. Maximum 5 students so everyone gets a good chance to speak.

# Under the Hood: Making Deep Tech Understandable for the Rest of Us Deep tech is brilliant… until it’s explained like a secret handshake. 😅 This Brighton AI meetup is for anyone who wants to understand what’s actually going on "under the hood" of the next wave of AI and hardware, without needing a PhD (or pretending you’ve already got one). We’ve brought together three experts for fast-paced, 15-minute briefings on the tech that’s moving from the lab to the real world. No jargon, just the essentials on how it works and why it matters. ### What we’ll cover: * **Supercomputing for AI:** What it actually is, why it's the engine of the current AI boom, and when a business actually needs it. * **Neuromorphic AI:** How "brain-inspired" hardware can slash the massive energy bills of modern AI. * **Quantum Sensing:** Moving past the hype to see how quantum tech is already being trialled in rail, defence, and energy. ### 📍 When and where * **Date:** Wednesday 11 March * **Time:** 18:00 – 20:00 * **Venue:** Sussex Innovation Centre, Falmer (University of Sussex campus) **Who should attend:** Founders, builders, students, researchers, product people, and the simply curious. Whether you’re deep in the code or just want to know what the headlines actually mean, you’ll be very welcome. ### Our speakers **Andy Forrester (HypeAccelerator Solutions Limited)** *Talk: Supercomputing for AI* Andy is an innovation and data science transformation specialist. He supports large, complex organisations—across government, aerospace, and healthcare - to turn emerging tech into real-world delivery. He’ll explain the "heavy lifting" hardware that makes modern AI possible. **Professor Thomas Nowotny (University of Sussex / Sussex AI)** *Talk: Reducing AI energy consumption with neuromorphic hardware* Thomas is a Professor of Informatics and co-director of the “Sussex AI” Centre of Excellence. He works in Computational Neuroscience and Biomimetic AI. He’ll show us how moving to "event-based" machine learning can help stop AI from consuming quite so much electricity. **Fedja Orucevic & Thomas Coussens (Spectomiq)** *Talk: Quantum — What is it and what are the commercial applications?* A University of Sussex spin-out, Spectomiq is moving quantum tech from the lab to the ground. They’ll explain how their patented sensing arrays pick out signals from "noisy" environments in real-time. We'll look at three big use cases: * **Rail:** Pinpointing train locations without visual confirmation. * **Defence:** Navigating in "GPS-denied" environments. * **Energy:** Detecting defects in EV batteries without invasive testing. ### Format * **18:00:** Arrivals + drinks * **18:15:** Welcome (Brighton AI) * **18:20:** Three 15-minute lightning talks * **19:15:** Combined Audience Q&A * **19:40:** Informal chats + networking * **20:00:** Close **Who should attend:** Founders, builders, students, researchers, product people, and the simply curious. Whether you’re deep in the code or just want to know what the headlines actually mean, you’ll be very welcome. ### 📍 How to find us **Venue:** Sussex Innovation Centre, Science Park Square, Falmer, BN1 9SB. **[View on Google Maps](https://www.google.com/url?sa=E&source=gmail&q=https://maps.app.goo.gl/ChIJnSg1S7aIdUgRm8ueJvDwl2U&authuser=1)** **🚗 By Car & Parking** * **Free On-site Parking:** Use **Car Park 2 (P2)**, located at the rear of the Sussex Innovation Centre building off Southern Ring Road. * **Arrival:** When you reach the barrier, please buzz Reception and let them know you are here for the **Brighton AI event**. * **Sat Nav:** Use postcode **BN1 9SB**. The car park is accessed via Knight’s Gate Road and Southern Ring Road. **🚌 By Bus** * **Direct to Campus:** Routes **23, 25, 25X, and 5B** run frequently from central Brighton and stop directly on campus. * **Nearest Stop:** Alight at **Science Park Road** or **Sussex House**—it’s just a 2-minute walk to the centre from there. * **From Lewes/Tunbridge Wells:** Routes **28 and 29** stop at the Falmer Station bus stop (a 10-minute walk through the campus). **🚆 By Train** * **Falmer Station** is the closest stop (on the Brighton-Lewes-Eastbourne line). * From the station, follow the signs for the University of Sussex and walk through the campus underpass. The Sussex Innovation Centre is about a 10-minute walk from the platform.

**Details** Join us at Berkeley Square Speakers, Mayfair’s premier public speaking and leadership club! Join us for an energising morning of public speaking, learning, and connection. Whether you’re a seasoned speaker or completely new to the world of public speaking, we offer a warm and welcoming environment where you can develop your communication and leadership skills. With over 25 years of experience helping professionals and individuals alike, we are committed to empowering people with confidence, communication, and presentation skills. **What to Expect at Our In-Person Meetings:** *Impromptu Speaking (Table Topics):* Build confidence with fun and challenging on-the-spot speaking exercises. *Prepared Speeches:* Be inspired by members delivering impactful speeches on diverse topics. *Constructive Feedback:* Receive actionable advice from expert evaluators to refine your skills. **Attend this session to:** *Conquer Public Speaking Anxiety:* Practice in a safe and supportive environment. *Learn from Experts:* Receive constructive feedback from seasoned speakers. *Build Confidence:* Enhance your professional and personal communication skills. *Join a Community:* Meet like-minded individuals who value growth and self-development. **Why Choose Berkeley Square Speakers?** *Proven Excellence:* Our members include International and District-level champions who share their expertise to help you grow. *Friendly & Professional:* We strike the perfect balance between a supportive atmosphere and a high standard of professionalism. Award-Winning Club: Recognised as a President’s Distinguished Club for over 15 years running. *Perfect Location:* Our in-person meetings are conveniently held at Grosvenor Chapel, just a short walk from Green Park and Bond Street tube stations. Whether you’re preparing for an important presentation, a wedding speech, or simply want to improve your confidence in everyday conversations, Berkeley Square Speakers is here to support you. 📍 Location: Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, Mayfair, London W1K 2PA 🕖 When: Every Wednesday morning at 7:15 AM Come and experience the transformative power of in-person learning and connection. Guests are always welcome, and you’ll even have the opportunity to join in with our impromptu speaking sessions (if you are feeling brave)! Take the first step toward becoming the confident speaker and leader you aspire to be—join us this Wednesday! For more information about our Club, please visit our website: [http://berkeleysquarespeakers.toastmastersclubs.org/](http://berkeleysquarespeakers.toastmastersclubs.org/)

**We are holding an Agile Standup dinner at the Mercato Metropolitano food court.** https://mercatometropolitano.com/locations/elephant-and-castle/ The focus of the evening is to enjoy amazing food while networking, learning and discussing using agility to create better software, products, teams and organisations. **The evening will take the form of a round table discussion** \- Bring a great question or describe a problem which you'd like to share\, we will then discuss it at the table\. **Who might come along?** Whether you're a seasoned agilest or completely new to it, you are most welcome. **The Dinner** \- Be prepared to pay for your own food and drinks\, what you choose is up to you\. **On the night:** The event starts at 6:00pm, hopefully we'll not be that hard to find. When you arrive, join us and order a drink. We'll aim to eat at around 7pm. Afterwards there will be an opportunity to meet, mingle, discuss and maybe even find mentors or future work colleagues. If you have any questions, just drop us a line. We will finish at around 9:00pm, but you can leave earlier, if you need to. *Photographs may be taken throughout the evening, please let the organisers know if you would prefer not to be featured in them.* Looking forwards to seeing you there.

If you’ve recently stepped into leadership, you’re probably facing decisions that feel heavier than expected. Not because they’re complicated. Because they involve trade-offs. You might be circling: * A hire you’re unsure about * A pricing change with ripple effects * A pivot that feels risky * A messy internal process * A trade-off with no clean answer This is a small, facilitated working session (max 3 participants). We take real decisions and think them through properly. Not networking. Not theory. Not pitching. Structured thinking. ### Format • 3 participants • Each brings one real decision • We clarify the actual problem • Separate facts from assumptions • Map options and consequences • Identify trade-offs • Define the next move

**DevOps Not Dead: In-Person Event on DevOps, Platform & Cloud in LONDON** Conference focused on modern DevOps, platform engineering, and cloud infrastructure. It brings together engineers, SREs, and platform teams to share practical experience in CI/CD, Kubernetes, automation, cloud architecture, reliability, and operating production systems at scale. **🎤 [Speakers & Topics](https://devopsnotdead.com/2026-london-q1/)** **🎟 [Tickets](https://luma.com/devopsnotdead-2026-london-q1?from=embed)** Get your ticket — 50% OFF with promo code: MEETUP50

Join us at the next monthly London Security Engineering meetup! **🍕 6:00pm: Arrive** \- Kick off the evening with light refreshments and networking \(30 mins\) 🎤 **6:30pm:** **Main Talk** \- Glenn Wilkinson\, CEO & Co\-Founder @ Agger Labs on "Ransomware 2026: Get Ready or Get Wrecked" **☕ 7:00pm: Break** – Refresh, connect, and recharge (15-20 mins) ⚡ **7.15pm:** **Lightning Talk** \- TBC **🍻 8:00pm: Pub** \- We usually go to a neighbouring pub for a drink after\! This event is a good opportunity to gain practical insights, meet fellow security professionals and discuss the latest trends in the industry. 📍 **Where:** **[Uncommon Liverpool ](https://maps.app.goo.gl/Qtn4JWuHd8G3xLZK9)** 34-37 Liverpool St, London EC2M 7PP 📅 **When:** Thursday March 12th 2026 *This event is made possible by the teams at MMC Ventures, Maze, and Tracebit.*

Hello and welcome to our joint **Cloud Platform Engineering London x Platform Engineering Leaders x Data & AI Leaders** meetup. This special crossover event brings together platform engineers, data and AI leaders, architects, SREs, and technology executives exploring how agentic AI systems intersect with modern platform engineering in regulated financial services environments. We are delighted to host this event at Lloyd's Banking Group in London. **Speakers & Sessions:** Panel: Agentic AI in the Enterprise Speakers: * Joseph Reeve, Growth, ElevenLabs * Chris Parsonson, CEO, Solve Intelligence * Joanna Crown, Director of Data, Moonpig * Sultan AI Awar, Solutions Architect (Digital Natives) at Databricks * Moderator: Ethan Sumner, Co-Founder & CEO at Community Stack Session: Agentic AI in Practice: How LBG is delivering scalable business value through AI Description: This session highlights LBG’s enterprise approach to scale Agentic AI, showing how the Group has built a scalable and safe foundation for Agentic AI through investments in data & AI platforms, governance frameworks, reusable agentic patterns, and AI upskilling for colleagues. Speakers: * Astitva Karunesh - AI Business Lead, AI CoE, Lloyds Banking Group * Lara Vomfell - Senior Data & AI Scientist, AI CoE, Lloyds Banking Group Session: How AI can catch what staging environments can't Description: Dylan from Overmind will spend five minutes explaining a complex Cloudfront outage that exposed the personal data of more than a hundred thousand people. Then another five minutes explaining the AI techniques that we used to simulate this exact outage using off-the-shelf models and live infrastructure state, which would have allowed them to prevent it before it ever happened. Speaker: Dylan Ratcliffe, Founder & CEO at Overmind **Agenda:** 18:00 — Arrival and refreshments 18:15 — Welcome and introduction — Ethan Sumner 18:20 — Agentic AI in Practice - LBG 18:40 — How AI can catch what staging environments can't - Dylan 18:50 — Break 19:00 — Agentic AI in the Enterprise 20:00 — Close and networking We are always keen to hear from: • Speakers • Hosts • Sponsors If you would like to speak, sponsor, or host a future event, please reach out to [Ethan Sumner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansumner404/) via LinkedIn. These communities form part of the [Community Stack](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/) ecosystem and follow the [Community Stack Code of Conduct](https://www.communitystack.io/code-of-conduct) and [Privacy Policy,](https://www.communitystack.io/privacy-policy) ensuring a respectful, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all attendees.

Hello and welcome to our joint **Cloud Platform Engineering London x Platform Engineering Leaders x Data & AI Leaders** meetup. This special crossover event brings together platform engineers, data and AI leaders, architects, SREs, and technology executives exploring how agentic AI systems intersect with modern platform engineering in regulated financial services environments. We are delighted to host this event at Lloyd's Banking Group in London. **Speakers & Sessions:** Panel: Agentic AI in the Enterprise Speakers: * Joseph Reeve, Growth, ElevenLabs * Chris Parsonson, CEO, Solve Intelligence * Joanna Crown, Director of Data, Moonpig * Sultan AI Awar, Solutions Architect (Digital Natives) at Databricks * Moderator: Ethan Sumner, Co-Founder & CEO at Community Stack Session: Agentic AI in Practice: How LBG is delivering scalable business value through AI Description: This session highlights LBG’s enterprise approach to scale Agentic AI, showing how the Group has built a scalable and safe foundation for Agentic AI through investments in data & AI platforms, governance frameworks, reusable agentic patterns, and AI upskilling for colleagues. Speakers: * Astitva Karunesh - AI Business Lead, AI CoE, Lloyds Banking Group * Lara Vomfell - Senior Data & AI Scientist, AI CoE, Lloyds Banking Group Session: How AI can catch what staging environments can't Description: Dylan from Overmind will spend five minutes explaining a complex Cloudfront outage that exposed the personal data of more than a hundred thousand people. Then another five minutes explaining the AI techniques that we used to simulate this exact outage using off-the-shelf models and live infrastructure state, which would have allowed them to prevent it before it ever happened. Speaker: Dylan Ratcliffe, Founder & CEO at Overmind **Agenda:** 18:00 — Arrival and refreshments 18:15 — Welcome and introduction — Ethan Sumner 18:20 — Agentic AI in Practice - LBG 18:40 — How AI can catch what staging environments can't - Dylan 18:50 — Break 19:00 — Agentic AI in the Enterprise 20:00 — Close and networking We are always keen to hear from: • Speakers • Hosts • Sponsors If you would like to speak, sponsor, or host a future event, please reach out to [Ethan Sumner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansumner404/) via LinkedIn. These communities form part of the [Community Stack](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/) ecosystem and follow the [Community Stack Code of Conduct](https://www.communitystack.io/code-of-conduct) and [Privacy Policy,](https://www.communitystack.io/privacy-policy) ensuring a respectful, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all attendees.

Product Is… is BACK! After a break since April last year, we're excited to return in 2026 with lots of really interesting new themes and discussions to be had. Let's start with one. Here's the thing: you've been learning to write better prompts. But what if the prompt is the easy bit? What if context is where all the real work lives - and what if product people are the only ones who know how to do it properly? Will Chan, Senior Product Manager at Risk Ledger and organiser of the AI Signals meetup, will lead us through why context engineering might be the most important skill you're not thinking about. This event will be at Synechron's office on the seventh floor, 95 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7NA. A massive thank you to Synechron for providing the venue. Doors open at 6:30 PM, we kick off at 7:00 PM, and wrap up by 8:30 PM. Drinks and snacks will be provided. Come ready for proper discussion, new connections, and ideas worth thinking about. \-\-\- THE THEME \- PRODUCT IS\.\.\. PROMPT AND CONTEXT ENGINEERING \-\-\- For product managers, designers, and researchers, context is everything. Context is the currency that sets product people apart from other disciplines like development or commercial teams. Product professionals need to understand the widest range of contexts - from users to business to implementation. As AI tools become embedded in our work, something interesting is emerging. To create effective prompts, context has to be injected accurately. But here's where things get fascinating - you may need to create prompts to create context to create prompts. It's turtles all the way down. The more time you spend using AI in products, the more you find yourself going back in your process. You're creating prompts for the final prompt, for the output you need to be as effective as possible. You might spend longer creating the prompt than doing the work itself. Join us as we explore what context engineering means for product people. How do you manage context in a rapidly changing world? What does this look like in a qualitative world where product people live in the grey area? Is context engineering the right term, or is it something else entirely? These are the questions we'll be tackling together. \-\-\- THE SPEAKER \- WILL CHAN \-\-\- Will is a Senior Product Manager at Risk Ledger and organiser of the AI Signals meetup. With over 10 years of experience building and scaling SaaS products in regulated, data-heavy environments, Will specialises in taking complex problems and turning them into products that drive measurable outcomes. Across legaltech, telecoms, workforce management, and retail media, Will has led discovery through delivery for AI and automation initiatives, improving adoption, containment, conversion, and operational efficiency at scale. Most recently, he's owned AI strategy and delivery for customer-facing platforms, doubling feature adoption and embedding AI safely into real workflows rather than demos or prototypes. Alongside delivery, Will enjoys developing product talent. He's coached PMs, shaped product playbooks, and led teams through clearer discovery, prioritisation, and execution practices. Will is passionate about practical AI application and real customer impact over hype. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- ABOUT 'PRODUCT IS\.\.\.' \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- PMs, UX & UI designers, user researchers, developers - you like to dream big when it comes to digital products… Now it's time share your perspective! 'Product is…' grounds itself in informed, knowledgeable context and healthy conversation - vital ingredients to tech success. One keynote speaker sets the tone on a theme of less travelled subject matter before all attendees add their perspective during the second half of round table-style discussion. Don't expect standard tech meetup fare like "How to improve your CV/Portfolio for that dream job at Facebook" or "How this new framework/approach will improve your workflow" - this meetup is food for the mind, but also a place to meet like-minded big-thinkers! We welcome everyone who works in tech - EVERYONE has a valuable perspective that we learn from. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- WHY WE CHARGE FOR TICKETS \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- We do not aim to make a profit from this meetup, our goal is to create healthy and interesting conversations, meet new people and make new connections. Speakers and the organising team give up their time free of charge to ensure the events are enjoyable for all. A small charge is required for attendance - this allows the organisation team to cover overheads, including the Meetup.com subscription, plus food and drink for the evening.

**SREday: In-Person Event on SRE, DevOps & Cloud in LONDON** Conference focused on Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), DevOps, and cloud infrastructure, bringing together engineers, platform teams, and leaders to share real-world experience building, scaling, and operating reliable production systems. 🫆[Speakers & Topics](https://sreday.com/2026-london-q1/) 🎟 [Tickets](https://luma.com/sreday-2026-london-q1?from=embed)

Calling all founders, CEOs, lawyers, doctors, and entrepreneurs to join our special *Founder Edition* of Sip & Read meetup event. Let's sip on fine wine and discuss our first book **The 5AM Club- Own Your Morning Elevate Your Life, by Robin Sharma**. We will pair this book with our favorite wine at **Wine on High** and engage in thought-provoking discussions on startup businesses and entrepreneurship, and network with like-minded individuals in a cozy book club setting. Come prepared to discuss this month's book. At the end of each book club meeting, we will take next book and venue suggestions from the participants for the next meeting. Whether you are a book lover, women entrepreneur, or a content creator, this event is perfect for sharing ideas and insights with other funders and founders in the entrepreneurial world. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to connect, learn, and grow together. Sign up now to reserve your spot! *Fun fact! This meetup was established in 2015 and had over 1,000 members. I had to shut down operations while attending law school, but we're back!!*

Is your business taking more of your time than you would like? [Rob Young](https://www.linkedin.com/in/cinci-robyoung/) principal at [Stage 3 Group](https://www.linkedin.com/company/stage-3-group/), hosts this workshop series and is the author of Stage 3 Success. * Provides a framework and a playbook for leaders of emerging businesses * Reviews business management tools and techniques for scaling and maturing a business * How to recognize and leverage stories hidden in financial statements * How to implement financial and operational controls and use leading indicators to spot trouble before it occurs * How to manage your time for maximum effect * How to deal with nonperforming employees * How to create standard operating procedures throughout your organization Four sessions will include two hours of content and an optional 90-minute hands-on lab. Reserve your spot via this link: https://clintonvilleba.com/calendar/#!event/2026/3/20/chaos-to-clarity-to-control ($200 for non-CABA members.)

This is a free, in-person meeting on the subject of betrayals, losses and how to get over them so you can build lasting relationships. Burdened by a stressful relationship? Unhealthy relationships can trigger feelings of anger, despair or self-doubt. They can create dwindling spirals of fights and seeking to make-up, or trying to “pin the blame” on someone or something. If you don’t find the RIGHT reasons, or select the correct sources of the problem, the problem can just get worse and worse. Whether in love or personal ties, with friends or at work, our life really IS affected by the quality of our relationships. Good ones can promote pleasure and survival while less optimum ones can lead to annoyance, anger, self-doubt, stress, or even affect our health and ability to survive well. Whether you are suffering from a divorce, or a painful break-up, don’t know who to trust (or who to CHOOSE) as a partner, friend, boss or employee - the anxiety of relationship troubles can really make a mess of things. Maybe you’ve suffered a betrayal, or are dealing with hostility or criticalness or invalidation. Dwindling relationships can involve destructive behavior, where we hurt those we love, or start succumbing to self-destructive thoughts, attitudes or behaviors that spiral out of control and affect much more than our immediate relationship. Past losses in love or life can affect how we act or react to new people and situations and hold us back from even starting to create new, possibly great relationships! How can one get back onto a saner course of action? Come to our Meetup, where we can introduce you to some of the knowledge, tools and techniques of the breakthroughs in the field of the mind that we can apply to this ever important area of life: human relationships! Break free from self imposed limitations Here we will discuss: • How to “erase” the trauma of past hurts and betrayals so that one isn’t always repeating past mistakes. • Why and how do the negative emotions of others affect you? • Why is my partner withdrawing and what can I do about it? • Why do we sometimes feel compelled to hurt the ones we love? • Fights & arguments - what's really behind them? • What underlies “corrosive criticism” or the need to invalidate self or others? • How one can stably change one’s outlook on life so they can affect positive change? • Where do compulsive destructive behaviors come from and what can be done about them? • How to form closer bonds & keep growing the relationships with the people you care about? • How to enhance one’s own ability to survive and create positive healthy relationships whether in love, family & friendships or in work, business or one’s career? Relationships can be hard and life itself IS challenging. Why not arm yourself with the knowledge and breakthroughs that have been made about the mind, mental reactions & interpersonal relationships, so that one has better awareness and control over themselves and life in general. Learn where painful experiences are “stored” and how they can unknowingly affect us. You will also find out how one can “erase” those past painful experiences so that one is free to move forward without being tripped up by the past. Learn too, about what can lead some people to become “toxic” personalities and how to identify those traits in others so you won’t be tripped up trusting the wrong person. Our free Meet-ups occur in a safe environment where one can learn, without fear of judgment or criticism, and without the recommendation of harmful mental techniques or therapies, just how YOU can get yourself onto a happier & more successful path: in love & in life. We look forward to having you join us! This class is sponsored by the Dianetics & Scientology Life Improvement Center of Central Ohio.

One of the most valuable parts of this community is the opportunity to think out loud with other product professionals. This session is built for exactly that. As we wrap up the quarter, it’s a great time to pause and reflect. What’s on track? What needs adjustment? Where could a small shift create bigger impact? Join fellow product professionals for a focused, interactive conversation designed to help you recalibrate for the next quarter. You’ll have the opportunity to share where you are, hear how others are thinking through similar challenges, and gain fresh perspective you can bring back to your team and organization. We’ll gather at 8:00AM, with discussion starting promptly at 8:15AM. 📍 First Watch - 7227 N High St Located in: The Shops at Worthington Ample parking is available. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Start your morning with clarity and connection — we hope to see you there! ☀️

Drake Lundstrom is presenting: Code Anywhere by Talking to your Phone Abstract: Have you heard the trend of people deploying code anywhere from checkout lines to doctors' offices? In this talk, you will learn how to talk to your phone and have an app on Azure to show your friend 5 minutes later. The basic DevOps tools you already know, plus a little bit of AI magic, are all you need! If you want to follow along, the demo will be in Azure with GitHub Actions and GitHub Copilot, and you can have it set up on your phone by the end of the session. Just come in with an Azure account and a GitHub repo. Join us for pizza, drinks, and networking @ Improving's office. Doors open at 5:45.

Attend a free seminar on how to have successful and lasting relationships. At this seminar you will learn: How to spot and handle negative and toxic relationships. How to get through the "rough patches" in a relationship. How to choose the right people to work with. The three things that make or break any relationship. How to make a good relationship great. All are welcome. Be sure to click on the red "Attend" button below to come to this local event. We look forward to seeing you there. Hosted by the Dianetics and Scientology Life Improvement Center of Central Ohio.

Discover Kiro, AWS’s innovative development environment that adapts to your workflow. Whether you prefer specification-driven development or a more intuitive, vibe-based approach, Kiro empowers you to build applications your way. In this session, speakers will explore Kiro’s core functionality and its evolution through re:Invent 2025, along with demonstrations of prompts used to create APIs, hooks, and steering documents. In the latter part of the session, watch as we build a complete example from scratch, showcasing Kiro’s agentic AI workflow in action for spec-driven development and vibe coding. What You'll Learn - Core Kiro concepts and development philosophy Feature evolution: pre and post re:Invent 2025 Practical examples: API creation, hooks, and steering docs Live coding demonstration with real-time problem solving Who Should Attend - Developers, solutions architects, and technical leaders interested in modern AWS development tools and AI-assisted coding workflows. **Speakers Bio:** Matthew Jorat: Matthew Jorat is a Customer Solutions Manager at AWS with nearly three decades of expertise in AI, cloud transformation, migration, modernization, IT, technology, and business. His career spans infrastructure engineer, solutions architect, security auditor, customer success director, support and services director, and operations officer. He was an early adopter of AWS services as a customer, and his current role at AWS uniquely blends his technical and business skills as he partners with executive teams to translate strategic priorities into measurable business outcomes through cloud adoption, AI implementation, and operational excellence. Matt leads end-to-end AI initiatives for enterprise customers, identifying high-impact use cases and maintaining relentless focus on measurable ROI. He holds eight AWS certifications and serves as Adjunct Professor at Franklin University teaching cloud computing and AWS architecture. His expertise encompasses GenAI, agentic AI systems, migration, modernization, and optimization strategies that drive transformation at scale. [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/) Girish Bhatia: Girish Bhatia is a seasoned technology delivery leader with deep expertise in cross-domain program management. He holds multiple AWS certifications, including AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, AWS Certified Developer – Associate, and AWS Generative AI Practitioner, and is also an AWS Community Builder. Girish brings over two decades of experience in the information technology industry. Throughout his career, Girish has led major technology-driven business transformation from modernizing on-premises applications to driving large-scale cloud migrations. His work includes API-based integration platforms, data-center and mainframe modernization, and enterprise cloud adoption initiatives. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Girish works at a tech-forward fintech company. He is passionate about AWS serverless architectures, Generative AI and emerging cloud technologies. An avid learner and builder, he continues to explore and apply the latest innovations in AWS to help organizations accelerate their digital transformation. https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/[https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/) **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