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Gather, learn, grow: Ask me anything about communities of practice

2nd July 2024

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Gather, learn, grow: Ask me anything about communities of practice image

Talk Description

In this super fun and insightful AMA, hosted by Tristan Lombard, Beth Marshall and Alex Reynolds, both esteemed quality engineers at Lloyds Banking Group, shared insights into their extensive experience and passion for community building within the testing industry.

Beth, with fifteen years in testing and a recent role at Lloyds as Senior Quality Engineer, highlighted her dedication to software testing, API testing, and supporting women in tech.

Alex, renowned for leading Lloyds' Quality Engineering community with over six hundred members and championing mindfulness practices, emphasised the transformative power of communities in fostering psychological safety and knowledge sharing.

Their discussion highlighted the importance of starting small and nurturing community engagement incrementally, rather than pursuing overly ambitious initiatives. They stressed the qualitative and quantitative metrics essential for measuring community ROI, emphasising the impact on trust-building and cross-functional collaboration within large organizations. Reflecting on their own career journeys, they shared valuable lessons on embracing experimentation, learning from mistakes, and adapting strategies to continually enhance community dynamics.

What you’ll learn

By the end of this talk, you'll be able to:

Understand the importance of starting small and nurturing community engagement incrementally rather than aiming for grand-scale initiatives
Recognise the value of fostering collaborative interactions over passive consumption of information to build thriving communities of practice
Learn to assess metrics like engagement levels, cross-functional participation, and trust-building activities within organisational settings to demonstrate the impact of community efforts
Gain insights into the significance of fostering psychological safety, embracing experimentation and adapting strategies based on feedback loops

Beth Marshall

Senior Quality Engineer

Beth has been testing for the past 15 years, and has recently joined Lloyds Banking Group as Senior Quality Engineer. Based in Leeds, Beth is a proud member of the global software testing community, and a regular blogger. Talk to her about Software Testing Portfolios, API Testing/Postman and supporting Women in Tech!

Alex Reynolds

Quality Engineering Community Lead at Lloyds Bank

Quality Engineer in Lloyds banking group, who started off life as a software engineer working on Radar Systems and made the logical move into the finance industry! Alex leads the QE Community in Lloyds bank with over 600 members and an active community of testers and quality engineers. Alex has a love of learning and helping people to learn and develop their own careers. He also has a keen interest in Mindfulness and Meditation and has been practicing for over 25 years. He was one of the founding members of the Mindfulness and Meditation Community in LBG 3 years ago which now boasts over 2500 members.

Ministry of Mischief

Community Builder & Stage Mom

Community builder and marketing consultant with past roles at Provar, Testim, and Sauce Labs. Passionate about open source and mentoring new speakers. BA from UC Berkeley, Masters from Columbia.