Software Innovation

The web is at the heart of our every day lives and we understand now it has enormous sustainability impacts. So what do we do as practitioners, teams and businesses building individual websites or apps? How do we have full confidence that our tech meets our sustainability claims? Adam Newman, Co-founder of Root & Branch is going to address these questions, demystify vendor claims and add some clarity to what it means to build, host and manage a sustainable web estate. Adam is the co-chair of the Green Software Foundation's "SCI for web" project, writing the spec for how to apply the latest ISO standard (ISO 21031:2024) to the web as well as the co-author of a paper on the energy and emissions measurement of websites and cloud applications. He is also a contributer to the W3C Web Sustainability Guidelines and a proud co-organiser of Green Software Brighton. Check out the Green Software Brighton [website](https://greensoftwarebrighton.co.uk/) for links to previous talks. Arrive from 18:00 for pizza and drinks. Event will start at 18:30. We always head for a drink and a chat locally afterwards too. --- ***Thank you to Runway East for use of their space to host our events and to Silicon Brighton and the Green Software Foundation for supporting us.***

**Details** We're back for another fun, friendly informal evening of product lightning talks and networking. We have 4 great speakers lined up to talk for 10 minutes (max) each on a product management topic that they’re passionate about. **Agenda** * 6:15 - Doors open - networking, drinks and nibbles * 7:00 - Welcome and intro * 7:10 - 4x 10 minute lightning talks + 5 mins Q&A per talk * 8:10 - More networking * 9:00 - Head to the pub **Our Speakers** * [Esra Yetis](https://www.linkedin.com/in/esrayetis/) \- Product Innovation & Transformation Coach & Speaker\. "Building Your Active\-Listening Muscle: Learning with Reflection Cycles" * [Grace Tolley-Smith](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracetolleysmith/) \- Senior Product Manager @ Rightmove\. "What Changes When Your Startup Gets Acquired" * [Rebecca Phillips](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-phillips-495739149/) \- Senior Product Manager\, Payments @ Depop\. "Payments is where product gets real\. 5 lessons from building marketplace payments" * [Debbie McMahon](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmcmahon/) \- VP Product at loveholidays\. "Are your customers using AI as much as you are?" **Our event sponsor: Rightmove** * We're exceedingly grateful to [Rightmove](https://www.rightmove.co.uk/) for hosting us at their Soho office. **Getting there** * 33 Soho Square, London, W1D 3QU * Check in at reception, and you will be directed to the event space. * The talks start at 7pm. * Please arrive promptly, as spaces will be limited. * We have a max capacity of 75 attendees and will unfortunately have to turn people away once we reach capacity or after the talks have started. **Our founding sponsor: Zebra People** * Zebra People is a digital recruitment business specialising in helping tech companies to grow their product, engineering and design teams with top-calibre talent. * Looking to hire Product Managers, Engineers or Designers? Visit [zebrapeople.com](https://zebrapeople.com/) or contact nick@zebrapeople.com

**AI is changing product management faster than most teams can adapt. Join us for an evening exploring what this means for your role, your skills, and your future.** **Are you ready for what AI is doing to product management?** Artificial intelligence is no longer a future trend. It is already reshaping how products are designed, built, and managed. From generating requirements to analysing data and automating workflows, AI is changing the day-to-day work of product managers. The real question is no longer *if* things will change, but *how your role will evolve*. **What this session will explore** In this keynote, we will go beyond the hype and look at what is actually happening in the industry right now: * What AI can already do in product management * Where its limitations still lie * How the role of the Product Manager is shifting * Why judgement, strategy, and leadership are becoming more critical * The emerging split between administrative and strategic product roles * The skills you need to stay relevant in an AI-driven world This is not a theoretical discussion. It is a practical look at what product professionals need to understand and act on today. **About the Speaker** **Louise May** Director of Product Management, Product Focus Louise brings over 20 years of experience across start-ups, scale-ups, and multinational organisations. She has led product teams, coached professionals, and built development programmes that support product managers throughout their careers. She is known for her practical insights, clarity of thought, and ability to connect theory with real-world application. **About Product Playground** Product Playground is a community for product professionals who want to think more deeply, share experiences, and learn through meaningful conversations. This is not just another meetup. It is a space to: * explore ideas * challenge assumptions * connect with like-minded professionals **Who should attend** * Product Managers (all levels) * Product Leaders and Heads of Product * Aspiring Product Managers * Consultants and practitioners working with product teams **Why you should attend** You will leave with: * A clearer understanding of how AI is changing your role * Insight into what skills will matter most going forward * Perspectives you can immediately apply in your work * Connections with other product professionals in London **Important Note** This is an in-person event with limited capacity to encourage meaningful interaction. 👉 **Reserve your place early to avoid disappointment**

🎉 Come along to the London Scala Talks! 🎉 In this event you'll hear from Haoyi Li, Martin Durchov and Adam Deegan. **Agenda** 6:00pm - 🥤 Doors open. Come along and grab a drink! 6:35pm - 🗣️ Introduction 6:40pm - 🗣️ Haoyi Li: Scripting on the JVM with Scala 7:20pm - 🍕 Intermission: Join us for some free food and drinks! Vegan, vegetarian options are provided. Let us know if you'd like something special - we'd be happy to accommodate. 7:50pm - 🗣️ Martin Durchov: ScalaMeta: Treating Scala code as data 8:10pm - 🗣️ Adam Deegan: Practical Java Interop for Scala Effect Systems 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 DOES NOT have a live stream** **🗣️ Haoyi Li: Scripting on the JVM with Scala** This talk will explore the use of Scala as a scripting language, replacing the Bash and Python scripts common throughout the industry. ⭐ Haoyi Li ⭐ Li Haoyi graduated from MIT with a degree in Computer Science and Engineering, and since then has been a major contributor to the open source community. His projects have over 10,000 stars on Github, and are downloaded over 20,000,000 times a month. Haoyi professionally built distributed backend systems, programming languages, high-performance web applications, and much more. **🗣️ Martin Durchov: ScalaMeta: Treating Scala code as data** Scala source code is usually something we write and hand off to the compiler. But what if we could parse it, inspect it, build it, and transform it all from regular Scala code? ScalaMeta is the metaprogramming library that makes this possible, and it underpins a lot of modern Scala tooling ecosystems: Scalafmt, Scalafix, and Metals are all built on it. In this talk we'll look at what ScalaMeta is, how its AST models Scala programs, and the core operations it provides: parsing, quasiquotes, tree traversal and more. We'll then turn to how we use it at Quantexa, where it powers code generation for our clients. Along the way we'll cover practical patterns that make code generation manageable at scale, and the rough edges you should know about before adopting it yourself. ⭐ Martin Durchov ⭐ I graduated from UCL in 2019 with a MSci in Theoretic Physics and started work in TxOdds, a small company focused on ultra-fast data streaming and processing, where I first encountered Scala, working with Typelevel libraries. Since January 2025 I have been working at Quantexa in the team responsible for data ingestion and processing also relying heavily on the Scala functional libraries and ScalaMeta. **🗣️ Adam Deegan: Practical Java Interop for Scala Effect Systems** Interfacing with a highly autonomous Java library in a functional manner is difficult. In this talk we'll explore the ways in which we've approached this; issues we found along the way; and the trade-offs between purity and pragmatism when there's a runtime which isn't yours to control. ⭐ Adam Deegan ⭐ Adam Deegan graduated from the University of Bristol with a degree in Computer Science in 2021 and has worked at Quantexa ever since. He started off as a Data Engineer and moved into software engineering a couple of years ago, working on the addition of a case management capability. His first true programming love was making Minecraft mods. ———————————————————— 🗣️ 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.

Welcome to our April event. We're delighted to welcome [Alex Le Peltier](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-le-peltier/), Chief Technology Officer, Signapse and [Daniel Jones](https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieljoneseb/), Head of Product, re:cinq. **Alex** answers - “what if AI could sign for the entire world - in real time?” From Heathrow flight announcements to Netflix live streams, find out how Signapse is making accessibility possible at scale on AWS. **Daniel** answers - “how do you turn 100 developers AI-native in just a few weeks?” Daniel reveals the psychology, strategy, and surprising human side behind one of the most ambitious agentic coding rollouts in enterprise tech. 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:** ***Real-Time Sign Language in the Cloud: Building Accessibility Infrastructure on AWS with Alex Le Peltier*** Accessibility is too often an afterthought - bolted on at the end, limited by budget, or simply impossible without a human interpreter in the room. Signapse is changing that. In this talk, Alex Le Peltier, CTO of Signapse, will show how a proprietary GenAI model hosted entirely on AWS is delivering real-time AI sign language at mass-market scale - from live flight announcements at Heathrow to Netflix live streams. By combining AWS infrastructure with custom and public LLMs, Signapse has built a platform that fills the critical gap where interpreters can't be present, freeing up scarce interpreter resources for where they matter most. **Alex** is a serial startup-er and tech leader with over 13 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. He’s passionate about understanding what challenges are faced by the deaf community and building innovative solutions that make a difference in people's lives. **Talk 2:** ***Agentic Coding For 100 Developers with Daniel Jones.*** How has a $3b Stockholm SaaS company transitioned 100 developers to AI-native development over a few weeks? Daniel shares how he helped Odevo with exactly this, but the answer might be more than you expect - it involves just as much discovery and psychology as it does training. Learn about the social and business prerequisites for such a transformation, the syllabus that enables developers to use multi-agent workflows, and how 'one-and-done' training is insufficient for this type of behavioural change. **Daniel** is Head of Product at re:cinq, an AI-native transformation consultancy, and a CTO Craft 100 member. He founded cloud consultancy EngineerBetter, spent six years helping banks, government and defence organisations deliver software faster, then scaled and sold the business. Now he focuses on agentic coding, AI-native engineering, and software factories - with a practical, engineer-first perspective: fix your path to production before you let agents anywhere near it. **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. 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/)

👋 General Info Hey hey London folks, Join us on **April 15** for a React meetup where we’ll dive into modern web tooling and AI-powered developer workflows — from rethinking how we deploy Next.js to exploring new ways of building with Claude Code. Expect practical insights, real-world examples, and great conversations with the community. **To attend the meetup please ➡️➡️➡️ [REGISTER HERE](https://guild.host/events/react-advanced-london-vukgo9) ⬅️⬅️⬅️ via Guild.** **🗣 Call for Proposals** Have an idea or story to share? Submit your talk proposal through our [CFP form](https://forms.gle/rCiQ8Y4jajiC8AHMA) and take the stage at one of our upcoming meetups! **🤝 Organized by** This event made possible thanks to the support from [React Summit](https://reactsummit.com/), [JSNation](https://jsnation.com/) and [React Advanced London ](https://reactadvanced.com/)organizers – [GitNation](https://gitnation.com/). **🤝 Sponsored by** Huge thanks to our friends [Sentry](https://sentry.io/welcome/)! Sentry is the only app monitoring platform built for developers that gets to the root cause for every issue. For software teams, Sentry is essential for monitoring application code quality. From Error tracking to Performance monitoring, developers can see clearer & solve quicker — from frontend to backend. **🤝 Want to support our community?** We’re looking for venue partners and sponsors for future meetups. Let’s discuss collaboration — [contact us](https://forms.gle/zWYxsanfbhV64dEr5)! **🕑 Event Schedule** 18:00 - Doors open - snacks, beer, socialization 18:30 - Opening notes **18:40 - Vinext: Deploy Next.js Without Next.js - [Jan Peer](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpeer/)** **19:05 - Mystery speaker 🎩** 19:30 - Break **19:45 - Tandem: Collaborative Agent Canvas - [Amman Vedi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ammanvedi/)** 20:10 - Networking, Open Mic Lightning Talks Mingle until 21:00 pm 🗣️ **Talks** ➡️ **Vinext: Deploy Next.js Without Next.js - [Jan Peer](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpeer/)** *Next.js is a great framework - until you want to deploy it somewhere that isn't Vercel. vinext is a Vite plugin from Cloudflare that reimplements the Next.js API surface from scratch, so your existing app runs everywhere with a single command. In this talk, we'll look at why this exists, how Cloudflare built it in a week using AI, and how close to "drop-in replacement" it actually gets.* ➡️ **Tandem: Collaborative Agent Canvas - [Amman Vedi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ammanvedi/)** *Recently I have been building Menagerie a tool for dispatching many Claude Code agents to complete tasks in parallel while maintaining visibility of progress, status and outputs. agents can show you what they are doing to the web app via playwright and ask for help when the need it.* *I think the future of engineering will be based on creating robust agentic systems and amid all the doom and gloom that can exist in the industry these days I want to paint a positive picture of the exciting engineering problems that actually lay ahead of us.* *Along with this I'll describe what it has taken me to deploy a system like this, e.g. sandboxing, cursor compatibility, terminals over the network and also how i've made it fun to use (for example you can give your agent a cute avatar, and if you so choose also a top hat)* — **👍 Code of Conduct** By registering for this event you agree to comply with our [CoC](https://gitnation.com/coc) **📩 Contact** [events@gitnation.org](mailto:events@gitnation.org) [https://twitter.com/ReactAdvanced](https://twitter.com/ReactAdvanced) [http://youtube.com/ReactConferences](http://youtube.com/ReactConferences) [https://bsky.app/profile/reactadvanced.gitnation.org](https://bsky.app/profile/reactadvanced.gitnation.org)

**Kindly note that this is a paid event and the average number of attendees for our events is 60-70 people. You can register on [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ai-connector-at-2-chesham-london-ai-tech-networking-event-tickets-1984554430725?aff=meetup](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ai-connector-at-2-chesham-london-ai-tech-networking-event-tickets-1984554430725?aff=meetup)** Connect with AI, digital & tech leaders at AI Connector® at the 2 Chesham Hotel in London. Build relationships and explore innovation. **London’s High-Quality Networking Event for AI, Digital & Tech Leaders 🚀** Join London’s leading networking event for AI, digital, fintech investors, and tech professionals. **AI Connector® at the 2 Chesham Hotel Belgravia,** brings together solution providers, entrepreneurs, company directors, and professionals eager to explore and implement cutting-edge AI, digital, and technology solutions to drive efficiency, innovation, and profitability 📈. This is a **thoughtfully designed, relationship-focused event** that prioritises meaningful conversations, collaboration, and long-term opportunity creation 🤝. ### **Why Join? 🌟** **Expand Your Network** 🤝 Connect with like-minded professionals, decision-makers, potential clients, and collaborators who share a passion for technology and innovation. **Explore Strategic Alliances** 🔗 Discover how AI, digital, and tech solutions can work together to create powerful synergies and stronger business outcomes. **Showcase & Discover Solutions** 💡 Whether you offer advanced tech solutions or are seeking innovative tools to scale your business, this event helps you meet the right people. ### **What You’ll Gain 🎯** **Strategic Connections** Build meaningful relationships with entrepreneurs, founders, investors, and company directors. **Valuable Insights** Stay informed about key trends and practical applications of AI, digital, and emerging technologies. **Collaboration Opportunities:** Identify partners to co-create, integrate, or implement solutions that can transform your organisation. ### **Event Details 🕒** **16:30 – Event Start** Fully hosted, free-format networking focused on quality conversations. 18.00 You will be able to remain in the venue at no extra cost when the **London Connecto**r**®** event begins. **WhatsApp Group** 📲 Continue the conversation before and after the event by joining our exclusive attendee WhatsApp group. On the day of the event, you will receive an email inviting you to join the WhatsApp message for the event. ### **Dress Code 👔** Business attire or smart casual. No T-shirts or trainers. ### **Refund Policy ℹ️** Advance tickets are discounted and **non-refundable**, but can be reassigned to another person of your choice if you are unable to attend. ### **Event Disclaimer 📸** Photos and videos may be taken during the event for use across our social media channels and promotional materials. * [United Kingdom Events](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom/events) * [Greater London Events](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--greater-london/events) * [Things to do in London](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/ttd/united-kingdom--london) * [London networking](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/networking) * [London Business networking](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/business--networking)

**⚠️⚠️ TICKETED EVENT - BUY TICKETS ON [LUMA EVENT PAGE](https://luma.com/icr5pkqs) ⚠️⚠️** Product Is… is tackling something that keeps a lot of product teams up at night. ​ AI products are shipping faster than users are learning to trust them. In some industries, that gap is getting dangerous. ​ Tom Blower, Chief Product and R&D Officer at Agreena, has spent his career building AI products in sectors where the stakes are real - healthcare, agriculture, climate tech. He knows what it looks like when a product gives the right answer and the user still doesn't act on it. ​This event will be on the seventh floor at Synechron's office, 35 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7QB. 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... CREATING A TRUST GAP --- ​AI products are getting better at a rate that is genuinely hard to keep up with. But capability and trust are not the same thing. ​Think about a farmer. They have decades of lived experience in their soil, their land, their seasons. An AI tool tells them to do something different. What happens? Often, nothing. Not because the AI is wrong, but because trust has not been earned. ​This is not a niche problem. It shows up in healthcare, in finance, in anywhere that human expertise has been built over time. Product teams are shipping features that users are quietly ignoring. The question is why, and what to do about it. ​We will be exploring how product teams build trust in AI when the people using it have good reason to be sceptical. How do you design for adoption when lived experience is the competition? And when speed of development is part of the problem, how do you slow down in the right places? ​The central question for the evening: can AI earn trust in industries built on lived experience? ​Come ready to pick a side. ​--- THE SPEAKER - TOM BLOWER --- ​Tom is Chief Product and R&D Officer at Agreena, a FinTech, AgTech and ClimateTech platform that helps farmers and corporations unlock the value of nature. At Agreena, Tom has led the development of Agatha, an AI advisory tool that gives farmers data-driven guidance tailored to their land - built on satellite data, remote sensing, and a deep respect for what farmers already know. ​Before Agreena, Tom was VP of Product at Kry and Livi, where he built digital and physical healthcare products used by millions of patients across Europe. Before that, he led product at Ada Health, the AI-powered symptom assessment app with over 10 million downloads and the number one healthcare app in 120 countries. ​Tom started his career at Dyson, where he spent nearly a decade in R&D and product design, winning a Red Dot Award along the way. ​He has shipped AI products to some of the most trust-resistant user groups on the planet. He has a lot to say about it. ​-------- 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 charge is required for attendance - this allows the organisation team to cover overheads, plus food and drink for the evening. To be clear, we're working towards lowering our costs as much as possible to keep ticket prices as low as possible.

**——————————** **Event Description:** **——————————** Welcome product enthusiasts! We're a meet-up group that hosts regular speaking events for those interested in the world of **digital products** and **doing things differently!** Each meet-up features new guests from some of the most influential product companies around the world, providing unique insights, tangible ideas, and new techniques to help drive change from the inside out. **————————** **Event Format:** **————————** 🚨 **This is an in-person event only.** 🚨 **————** **Venue:** **————** **Our Product Unleashed London Event:** We are hosted in the beautiful event space @ **[Youlend](https://youlend.com/).** 🚨 **Note:** Youlend Entrance opposite the Rosewood hotel 🚨 We're looking forward to seeing you there! **———————** **What to expect:** ⚡ This event will be made up of 2 speakers dropping knowledge bombs in the form of 20 minute talks straight into your minds 🤯 **———————** **SPEAKER 1** **———————** **Alison Howard** Alison Howard is a Principal Product Design Consultant with 14 years of experience working across some of the UK's most complex and fast-moving products. As an independent consultant, she has partnered with organisations including Trainline, Expedia, BP, HSBC and Emirates to untangle messy problems, align teams and deliver design that actually gets built. Outside her consultancy work, Alison manages PD Ladies, a community of 800+ women in Product Design. **————————** **About the Talk:** **————————** **Learn the Language, Win the Room** If you've ever left a meeting feeling like no one understood what you were saying, this talk is for you. Alison explores the gap between how designers communicate and how everyone else does, and what happens when you close it. ***Expect practical tools and honest reflections on learning to speak the language of product, commercial and engineering teams, so your work gets the traction it deserves.*** **———————** **SPEAKER 2** **———————** **Anna Popova** Anna Popova is Head of Product at [Judge.me](https://judge.me/), one of Shopify’s most installed apps, helping over 600,000 e-commerce brands build trust through customer reviews. With more than a decade of experience across product management, data science, and delivery, Anna focuses on how product teams can increase leverage and build better systems for decision-making and execution. Recently, her work has centred on exploring how AI can reshape the product development process — from discovery and research to prototyping, UX design, and creating high-quality requirements for engineering. She is particularly interested in how small product teams can use AI to dramatically increase output while preserving strong product thinking, judgement, and product craftsmanship. **————————** **About the Talk:** **————————** **When Building Becomes Cheap: Rethinking Product Process in the Age of AI)** **Software is becoming dramatically cheaper to build. AI tools are rapidly reducing the cost of prototyping, coding, and experimentation — faster than many product teams realise.** But while the cost of building is collapsing, the cost of process remains high. Many teams still rely on workflows designed for a world where engineering time was scarce: heavy discovery phases, long specification cycles, and complex coordination structures. In the AI era, these processes risk becoming the real bottleneck. In this talk, Anna explores how product teams may need to rethink how they operate when building becomes cheap. At [Judge.me](https://judge.me/), they've started asking a provocative question: what if a product team should never grow beyond 10 people — even when serving millions of users? Drawing from experiments with AI-assisted workflows, Anna will share how AI can augment product work — from rapid prototyping and spec generation to creating a “digital twin” of a product manager. ***Get ready to explore which parts of the product process should be automated, which should remain human, and how product leaders can adapt.*** **—————————————** **Support from:** **—————————————** We are kindly hosted by our friends at Youlend. **——————————** **About your hosts:** **——————————** Product Unleashed is brought to you by your hosts **[John Griffin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-griffin-designer/)** and **[Dominic Port](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-port/)**. The duo has worked on the design of products of all shapes and sizes and bring their energy and enthusiasm to this unique meet-up, packed with great guests and knowledge - for anyone interested in levelling up their game in the world of products.

**IMPORTANT!** Please register on [Luma page](https://luma.com/grfvqoo5?tk=MBRXGP) This is a Saturday gathering in London for middle+ professionals in tech and creative industries — people who are already building products, teams, and ideas👩🏻‍💻 ​We’re meeting at a cafe at 11:00, grabbing coffee and easing into conversations without pressure. ​We’ll start with a light icebreaker (yes, maybe bingo, but done right) to skip the awkward small talk and get to real conversations faster. ​Then the core question: What actually matters to build today, when AI is reshaping everything? ​No polished answers. Just honest perspectives, thoughtful discussions, and people who care about what they’re building. ​ **Who it’s for:** — product managers, designers, marketers, founders, engineers, everyone is welcome — those who value clear thinking over quick wins — anyone navigating AI in their work ​ **Agenda:** 11:00–11:15 — Meet & grab coffee 11:15–11:30 — Themed bingo 11:30–13:00 — Networking & conversations ​Come for the coffee, stay for what actually matters🙂‍↕️

For people who build software. **We focus on AI, design, engineering, cloud, and startups without the hype.** No vendor pitches or buzzwords. Just real architectures, production lessons, and honest trade-offs. For engineers, architects, platform teams, and technical founders. Join us for two practical talks and a roundtable & pizza.🍕 **🤖 1. Using GenAI to Re-Imagine City Development** [Damian Bemben](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bemben/) \- Senior Software Engineer @ AdaMode "Urban redevelopment is constrained by cost and slow iteration. This session explores using GenAI and image-to-3D to generate and test concepts in seconds, giving more people a voice in planning. Covers practical model integration and where these tools actually deliver value beyond “AI slop" **🤖 2. Deploying Deep Learning in Real Healthcare Constraints** [David Agbolade](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dagbolade/) \- Senior Data Scientist\, \| AI Researcher \| SheerFit Founder "A system for automated radiology reports, built for environments with 1 radiologist per 1 million people. The model worked in the lab. Deployment exposed the real problems: data scarcity, bias, low budgets, and lack of trust. Real trade-offs: shipping a prototype over a “proper” app, choosing speed over marginal accuracy, and training on imperfect data because perfect data never arrives. **🤖 3. Round table** [Tom Winstanley](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomwinstanley/) \- CTO and Head of New Ventures in UK&I Open discussion on shipping AI systems under real world constraints. Questions. Trade offs. What we would do differently.

🚀 NSLondon Social Meetup – Building an iOS app? Come share it! Join us on April 18th from 11:00–13:00 for our next NSLondon meetup - a relaxed, social session focused on sharing apps, ideas, and feedback We’re meeting at WatchHouse by Hyde Park ☕️, then (weather permitting) heading out for a casual stroll through the park 🌿 What to expect: • Share and review what you’re currently working on • Get friendly, practical feedback on your apps and ideas • Chat with other iOS developers, designers, and indie builders No pressure, no presentations — just bring what you’re working on (or curiosity). Please RSVP on Meetup if you’re planning to come — looking forward to seeing you there!

**Kindly note that this is a paid event and the average number of attendees for our events is 60-70 people. You can register on [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exclusive-london-business-networking-event-director-connector-at-iod-tickets-1985229188945?aff=meetup](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exclusive-london-business-networking-event-director-connector-at-iod-tickets-1985229188945?aff=meetup)** Network with like minded company directors, founders and entrepreneurs in a reserved area at the Institute of Directors Join **entrepreneurs, directors, investors, and professionals** at the prestigious Institute of Directors in London for high-level connections, strategic partnerships, and premium networking opportunities. Looking to make powerful business connections in London? Join **London Connector®** at the **exclusive Champagne Bar, Institute of Directors (IoD), 116 Pall Mall**, for a premium networking evening in one of the city’s most prestigious venues. This is not your average networking night. Hosted in the historic IoD building, usually reserved for members only, this event gives you a **rare opportunity** to step inside a venue that symbolizes professional prestige and British business excellence. Surrounded by refined interiors and an elegant atmosphere, you’ll be part of an evening designed to help you build **meaningful relationships, discover new opportunities, and grow your network** at the highest level. ## **Who You’ll Meet** Our events are carefully curated to ensure quality conversations and valuable connections. Expect to meet: * **Entrepreneurs & Startup Founders** – looking for investors, collaborators, and strategic partners * **Company Directors, CEOs & Executives** – seeking growth opportunities and alliances * **Investors & Advisors** – scouting new ventures and partnerships * **Professionals across industries** – including tech, finance, law, media, sustainability, marketing, and healthcare * **Business Owners & Consultants** – expanding their client base and building trusted connections Every London Connector® event brings together **forward-thinking, opportunity-driven professionals** who believe in collaboration and supporting one another’s growth. ## **Why Attend?** ✅ **Prestigious Venue Access** – Network at the Champagne Bar inside the Institute of Directors, a landmark in London’s business world that is rarely open to non-members. ✅ **High-Caliber Networking** – Connect with entrepreneurs, decision-makers, and innovators who are shaping the future of business. ✅ **Pre-Event WhatsApp Group** – Start networking before the event with fellow attendees in our private group. ✅ **A Hosted, Structured Evening** – With facilitated introductions and a relaxed yet professional setting, everyone feels included. ✅ **Premium Experience** – Limited capacity (60 guests) ensures quality interactions instead of crowded, impersonal networking. ⚠️ This event has **sold out more than once in the past**. Early booking is strongly advised as tickets are limited and non-refundable. ## **Who Should Attend?** This event is perfect if you are: * An entrepreneur or startup founder seeking investors or collaborators * A director, CEO, or executive looking for new partnerships and opportunities * An investor, consultant, or advisor scouting fresh talent and ideas * A professional in tech, finance, law, sustainability, or marketing expanding your network * A business owner looking to meet like-minded achievers in an elegant setting ## **What Makes London Connector® Events Unique?** Unlike traditional networking events that feel rushed or overcrowded, **London Connector®** creates experiences where genuine conversations and valuable relationships flourish. We focus on **quality over quantity**, ensuring each attendee gets the chance to build connections that matter. Our track record speaks for itself: * Consistently **sold-out events** at prestigious venues * A curated guest list of **decision-makers, entrepreneurs, and investors** * A welcoming atmosphere where introductions are facilitated, and no one feels left out * Post-event connections supported through our curated WhatsApp groups **WhatsApp Group** 📲 Continue the conversation before and after the event by joining our exclusive attendee WhatsApp group. On the day of the event, you will receive an email inviting you to join the WhatsApp message for the event. **Event Disclaimer 📸** Photos and videos may be taken during the event for use across our social media channels and promotional materials. * [United Kingdom Events](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom/events) * [Greater London Events](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--greater-london/events) * [Things to do in London](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/ttd/united-kingdom--london) * [London conferences](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/conference) * [London Business conferences](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/business--conference)

Join us for an engaging panel discussion on **AI Agentic Coding** and how autonomous AI systems are transforming the way software is built. Experts in AI, software engineering, and developer tools will share insights on how agentic AI—systems that can plan, reason, and execute coding tasks—is reshaping modern development workflows. The discussion will cover topics such as AI-assisted development, productivity gains, challenges around reliability and governance, and what the future of software engineering may look like with AI agents as collaborators. Whether you’re a developer, tech leader, or AI enthusiast, this session is a great opportunity to learn, ask questions, and explore how agentic AI is redefining coding

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 You will need to scan your ID at the door to get a visitor badge. **Abstract** GitHub Copilot is powerful, but what if you could scale from a solo AI assistant to an entire team of specialized agents working in parallel? This session introduces Squad: an open-source framework for multi-agent orchestration that lets you define teams of AI agents with specific roles, responsibilities, and expertise. We'll progress from Copilot basics to the Copilot CLI, explore how Agents add autonomy, and see how Instructions and Skills let you customize agent behavior. Then, the climax: a live demo where a Squad team of 3 agents (Lead, Developer, Tester) stands up and builds a working application in real-time, showcasing true multi-agent collaboration. Whether you're new to AI or exploring how to scale your use of Copilot, this session will show you what's possible when agents work as a team. **YouTube Link** TBD

AI is changing how art is made. But when does it stop being your work and start being the machine’s? This month we're going to be doing a panel with with digital image, music, and written word artists, talking about at what point, while using AI in the creation process, does the work become not the artist creation? We encourage audience participation during this event that will be moderated by Chris Slee. Whether you’re deep in the field or just getting curious, come connect with others building and exploring AI in Columbus. Sponsored by [Transform Labs](https://www.transformlabs.com/services) Sign up also accessible via [Transform Labs Luma](https://luma.com/55umjqta)

We will cover metadata-driven approach to building and operating data pipelines at scale on AWS. Discuss architecture, design trade-offs, and lessons learned from running a unified pipeline across multiple customers using configuration-driven workflows. **Presenter: Dilshad Nasirov** Seasoned Software Architect and cloud practitioner with 20+ years of experience building scalable systems and data platforms. Specializes in AWS, with deep expertise in data lakes, serverless architectures, and real-time data processing. Has led the design and delivery of enterprise-grade solutions across industries, helping organizations improve performance, reduce costs, and unlock data-driven insights. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dilshad-nasirov-4538431/ **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/ **THANK YOU** *Leading EDJE* for hosting our meetup! Leading EDJE specializes in helping organizations innovate and solve complex problems. EDJE does this with their "A" player team of professionals using agile methodologies and SCRUM management techniques to give organizations a competitive advantage that sets them apart. Learn more at https://www.leadingedje.com/ **THANK YOU** *Amazon Web Services* for sponsoring pizza! Learn more at https://aws.amazon.com/. **DIRECTIONS** 6515 Longshore Loop, Suite 300 Dublin, OH 43017 (3rd floor) **FREE PARKING** at the Endres Garage across the street, 6540 Riverside Dr, Dublin, OH **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab for a future meetup?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com

Join other experienced and aspiring agile coaches and professionals to: * develop and practice your coaching skills in a peer-to-peer environment * share current successes and challenges in your work environment and get support from each other * learn from each other, build better relationships and experiment with new ideas ***NOTE:*** Pre-registration is required for this event. **Please arrive 10 minutes early** to check in at the security desk.

The global Azure community is coming together again, and Columbus is officially on the map. View the session lineup and speakers at [Global Azure Columbus 2026](https://coazure.github.io/cbus-global-azure-2026/) On **Saturday, April 18, 2026**, the Azure Columbus Meetup, DevOps Meetup, and Code and Coffee Meetup are hosting our local edition of Global Azure 2026. This is a free, community-driven event packed with learning, networking, and all things Microsoft Azure. Whether you’re building modern cloud-native apps, experimenting with AI agents, deploying containers, automating infrastructure, or just beginning your Azure journey, this event is for you! **What to Expect** * Engaging technical sessions * Real-world Azure architecture & cloud-native patterns * AI, agents, automation, and modern DevOps * Food and drinks (because learning burns calories) * Time to connect with fellow engineers, architects, and cloud enthusiasts **Who Should Attend?** * Software engineers (any language, any stack) * Cloud architects * DevOps engineers * Data professionals * AI explorers * Platform builders * Anyone who loves solving hard problems with great tools If you build, deploy, automate, scale, monitor, or optimize in Azure, you’ll feel right at home. **Why Global Azure?** Global Azure is a worldwide community event where Azure user groups host learning sessions on the same day across the globe. It’s grassroots. It’s technical. It’s practical. And it’s powered by people who genuinely love sharing what they’ve learned. And yes, it’s free to attend!

Make sure to RSVP on the Cental Ohio Azure event! The global Azure community is coming together again, and Columbus is officially on the map. View the session lineup and speakers at [Global Azure Columbus 2026](https://coazure.github.io/cbus-global-azure-2026/) On **Saturday, April 18, 2026**, the Azure Columbus Meetup, DevOps Meetup, and Code and Coffee Meetup are hosting our local edition of Global Azure 2026. This is a free, community-driven event packed with learning, networking, and all things Microsoft Azure. Whether you’re building modern cloud-native apps, experimenting with AI agents, deploying containers, automating infrastructure, or just beginning your Azure journey, this event is for you! **What to Expect** * Engaging technical sessions * Real-world Azure architecture & cloud-native patterns * AI, agents, automation, and modern DevOps * Food and drinks (because learning burns calories) * Time to connect with fellow engineers, architects, and cloud enthusiasts **Who Should Attend?** * Software engineers (any language, any stack) * Cloud architects * DevOps engineers * Data professionals * AI explorers * Platform builders * Anyone who loves solving hard problems with great tools If you build, deploy, automate, scale, monitor, or optimize in Azure, you’ll feel right at home. **Why Global Azure?** Global Azure is a worldwide community event where Azure user groups host learning sessions on the same day across the globe. It’s grassroots. It’s technical. It’s practical. And it’s powered by people who genuinely love sharing what they’ve learned. And yes, it’s free to attend!