Engineering Leadership Events in Edinburgh

Staring down 2027 planning? Our final meetup of the year focuses on practical tools to build your next strategy.

Part 1: Before the Roadmap
Andrew Skotzko (author of The Strategy Cycle) joins us to tackle the hardest part of planning: moving from a pile of research, stakeholder opinions, and goals to a coherent strategy.
He will share a quick framework to:

• Put strategic choices on a single page.
• Spot decisions you are actively avoiding.
• Build a draft your team can challenge and execute.

Bonus: Andrew will gift 5 copies of his new book to attendees.

Part 2: 2026 Reflection and Shaping 2027
After the talk, we will review our ProductTank year and gather your feedback. Tell us what topics, speakers, and formats you want to see in 2027 so we can build next year's schedule around what you need.

Agenda:
5:30PM-6:00PM - Arrival + food & drink
6:00PM-6:45PM - Andrew Skotzko talk
7:00PM-7:30PM - Lookback on 2026 & Voice of the Community
7:30-8:00PM - Wrap Up + Networking

Whether you're a seasoned product manager or just starting your journey, this meetup promises a fantastic opportunity to unwind, reflect, and engage with our incredible community. Let's come together to make the upcoming year even more remarkable.

Please RSVP to secure your spot, and feel free to invite friends and colleagues who share your passion for product.

Let's wrap up the year with a bang! 🎊✨

---------------------------------------------
About Andrew:
Andrew Skotzko is a product leadership coach, strategy advisor, and author of The Strategy Cycle. He helps product leaders make better strategic choices and turn those choices into action.

Over 15 years as a product leader, he built products and led teams across B2B and B2C, nine industries, and every company stage from startup to Fortune 100. The products he worked on reached more than 80 million consumers and thousands of business customers. He has advised leaders at companies including Google, Databricks, Asana, GitHub, Ramp, HubSpot, and Intuit.
---------------------------------------------
Thank you to our sponsors Poscode Lottery
At Postcode Lottery, we believe that together we can be a force for good. Since 2005, our players have raised over £1 billion to support initiatives creating a healthier, fairer, greener world. From local community charities to global NGOs, we understand the lasting impact that unrestricted, long-term funding can achieve. Every ticket helps drive positive change, building a better society for all.

When AI Changes the Pace of Delivery, What Happens to Agile?
Tim Leslie

When the Agile Manifesto was written, delivering software every couple of weeks was a truly radical idea. With AI, working features now ship in days or even hours, so does a refinement meeting once a fortnight still make sense? Tim will look at what our ways of working should be in a world dominated by agents and, increasingly, software factories.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Agenda:

• 6:00pm - 6:30pm - Welcome • grab a drink • take some pizza • have a quick chat
• 6:30pm- 6:40pm - Opening talk
• 6:40pm-7:30pm - Main talk
• 7:30pm-7:45pm - q&a
• 7:45pm-8:00pm - beverages • networking • closing.
• 8:00pm onwards - Afterparty at a nearby pub.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Speaker Spotlight:

Tim Leslie - Engineering Manager & AI Learning Lead, Skyscanner - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-leslie-b2184b26/

Tim leads AI learning for 950 engineers at Skyscanner. He has 12 years of experience leading teams of up to 40 engineers and product specialists in small and medium-sized organisations.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Partners:

• CodeBase
• Dougray
• Scottish Technology Club
• Beyond Tech
• Lyxonn

-----------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer:
We will take pictures and videos of the event for our social pages. If you prefer not to be in any photos or videos, please let us know.
-----------------------------------------------------------
👉 Interested in speaking at next TechTalks? Get in touch at speaker@adhoc.space or message us on social media.

Follow us:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adhoc-space/about/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@adhocSpace
Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/techtalks-edinburgh/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adhoc_space/

to stay in the loop. See you at the next TechTalks!

Previous events:
TechTalks #10 - https://www.meetup.com/techtalks-edinburgh/events/316995619/
TechTalks #9 - https://www.meetup.com/techtalks-edinburgh/events/315860405/
TechTalks #8 - https://www.meetup.com/techtalks-edinburgh/events/314756430/

LeadDev Edinburgh meetup

🎟 Please RSVP BELOW! 🎟
Join us for our next LeadDev meet-up on Thursday the 26th of November and enjoy an evening of networking and talks.

Date: Thursday the 26th of November
Time: 18:00 - 20:45
Location: Skyscanner, 15 Lauriston Pl, Edinburgh EH3 9EN

Spaces are limited - you must RSVP to attend. We hope to see you there!

⏰ SCHEDULE ⏰
18:00 - Arrival, networking and refreshments
18:45 - Welcome from our host
18:50 - Software factories - Tim Leslie, AI Learning Lead for Engineering at Skyscanner

19:15 - The Journey to Healthy Leadership Habits - Tobi Tonner, Software Engineer | Leadership Coach
19:40 - Break
20:00 - O'Reilly book giveaway
20:10 - Distributed system citizenship - Tadhg Davey, Principal Engineer at NHS Scotland
20:30 - Wrap & Networking
20:45 - Close

🎤 SPEAKERS 🎤
Tim Leslie, AI Learning Lead for Engineering at Skyscanner
Talk: Software factories
Tim currently leads AI training for engineers at Skyscanner. He has previous experience leading teams of up to 40 engineers in various startups, including a Unicorn.

Tobi Tonner, Software Engineer | Leadership Coach
Talk: The Journey to Healthy Leadership Habits
Tobi has learned his craft working as a software engineer and as a senior technical leader in startups and scaleups.
He is particularly passionate about the future of work: How can we create organisations where people create value whilst feeling grounded and fulfilled?
Tobi now works as a software engineer and also as a certified coach. He helps leaders gain confidence, make clear decisions and achieve steady growth.

Tadhg Davey, Principal Engineer at NHS Scotland
Talk: Distributed system citizenship
Tadhg is an Engineer working for NHS Scotland. Where he's been part of building the platform that powers healthcare services across Scotland including dermatology, vaccinations and mycare.scot.
When not at work he can usually be found on Arthur's Seat.

🔹 CODE OF CONDUCT 🔹
As with our conferences, LeadDev Meetups are a safe and inclusive event for all. By attending, you agree to our code of conduct.

🔸 SLACK COMMUNITY 🔸
You can also join our Slack workspace to keep up with everything in our Edinburgh community. Join the channel #edinburgh.

📚 BOOK GIVEAWAY 📚
Thanks to our partner O'Reilly we will be giving away four of their excellent titles at the meet-up

• The Staff Engineer's Path
• Crafting Engineering Strategy
• Vision Language Models
• Designing Data Intensive Applications

🙏🏻 THANK YOU 🙏🏻
Thank you to our Edinburgh meet-up partner Skyscanner.