After participating in the brilliant Agile in the Ether sessions created and facilitated by Emily Webber, and seeing first hand how valuable they are, we've rolled out the format to UK Government.

These are lean coffee style meetups; safe spaces to talk around topics which are chosen by attendees on the day. Other than the fact we're limiting attendance to Civil Servants and contractors working in Digital, Data and Technology teams across UK Public Sector, the format and style will be identical to Emily's. If you are not currently working in UK Public Sector (or even if you are!) I would strongly advise signing up to Emily's original and best Agile in the Ether mailing list, and getting involved.

Things to know

we will be using zoom. I realise this flies in the face of our usual #ProductPeople principles of only using tools that can be accessed from all government departments, regardless of technology or whitelisting constraints. But I believe the value to be gained is worth it, and no other technical solution comes close for this format of remote meet-up. Apologies to those who can't participate.
spaces will be strictly limited so please make sure you can attend at the published date and time, that you can access and download the required technology and that you sign up with your government email address.
one person / one computer, please - it’s easier if everyone is on the same footing.

Where is it?

The meet-up is held online over video (zoom), which means it is wherever you are. You don’t need a zoom account, but you will need to install the software.

What do I need to take part?

a uk government/public sector email address
a computer with access you can install zoom on
access to google docs
decent internet connection to cope with a video call
a webcam and microphone so everyone can see and hear you
quiet space and headphones so you can hear everyone
a desire to learn and share

This event is using the in the Ether format, for more info or to find out how to run your own meet-up in the Ether please see intheether.xyz.

The format is licensed under a creative commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence - thanks so much to Emily Webber for letting me plagiarise it mercilessly.

Product People in the Ether #17