![Mode 2 Meetup Logo](/resources/Mode2Logo.png) #Mode 2 Meetup

What is it?

Mode 2 is a regular meetup about IT innovation within large companies across central Scotland.

Each meetup will feature two short talks and a chance to connect with IT innovators in a relaxed environment with free beer/wine and pizza.

Follow us on Twitter: @Mode2Meetup Email us at: mode2meetup@gmail.com

Next Event

September 27th 2017 6pm, Venue Hyman Robertsons, Semple Street

Tickets available here: EventBrite page

Getting there

See Eventbrite page for details

Talks

Despite the presence of some very bright people, the established financial sector does not have a reputation for innovation. During this short presentation, Paul will explore why this is the case, and how - and if - it can be addressed. He’ll be drawing on his experience of working with teams developing innovative services in banks and other corporates, looking at where this has gone well, where it has failed, and what lessons can be drawn.

** About Paul

Paul has been working in fintech since long before it got that name, from the truly innovative (various precursors to Bitcoin) to the mundane (variations of card products for banks). His principal claim to fame is as the concept developer for M-Pesa in Kenya, by far the most successful non-bank financial service in the world. He has worked with banks, non-banks, financial regulators and others across Africa, South Asia, Europe and North America. Sometimes his ideas have survived the process.

In January 2014, Hymans Robertson embarked on delivering a new “Robo-advice” offering using cloud-based, agile delivery. 3 years later we have a successful product that’s won several industry awards. In this talk, we’ll take a frank look at the journey behind the product: what went well, what didn’t; what we’ve learned and where we still have puzzles.

Sponsorship & Speakers

We are always looking for sponsors and speakers. If you feel that you would like to speak, or have a venue that you could host our meetup in, please get in touch via email

Previous Events

March 22nd 2017 6pm, Royal London, Thistle Street

A story of process, technology, people and how visible, repeatable testing starts to shine a light and open the doors to a maintainable system.

React has proven to be a very popular tool for web application development, but within enterprise-scale businesses it presents a unique set of strengths and challenges. I would like to give a basic introduction to what React is, why companies are using it, and provide some insight into how it fits in the enterprise.

#5 November 30th 2016, Registers of Scotland, Meadowbank House

Talks

Climbing from the depths of explaining IT mis-management to the Public Accounts committee, to becoming an exemplar for Agile delivery isn’t an easy adventure. It’s not to say it can’t also be fun. It’s hard. It takes a lot of bright people and bright ideas. It takes a lot of discipline and a lot of engineering skills. It takes a lot of support, a lot of stamina and it takes a lot of hard decisions. In the last 2 years we have changed utterly and become a great place to work – and critically deliver great outputs to our users. But you can’t have the sexy stuff without the unsexy. I’ll explain.

slides of talk

Over 3.5 years Skyscanner’s Product Development team scaled from 60 people in Edinburgh to more than 650 people in 8 offices world-wide, launched many new products (such as Hotels search and a travel platform that now powers 400+ partners, including MSN and Yahoo! Japan) and massively increased their agility (from 6 weekly release trains to on demand blue/green deployments). Many of the approaches we tried out to support this transformation are being actively promoted as industry best practice – yet we found they just didn’t work. I’ll tell you about what didn’t work and the alternatives that did.

slides of talk

#4 September 21st 2016, Royal Bank of Scotland, Gogarburn

Talks

Firebase was an easy-to-use real-time database. And then Google bought the company. This year, Google repositioned Firebase as a complete mobile platform that helps you quickly develop, deploy and monetise high-quality apps. In this talk, Rachel will give you an overview of what Firebase can do for you, and a frank opinion of what’s good (and not so good) about it.

Open Innovation, APIs, and how RBS is the #BankOfAPIs

Udita works for the RBS Solutions Innovation Engineering team and is helping create and communicate the API strategy for the bank. She is a serial Hackathon organiser and an online and social media marketer. She has led initiatives to communicate RBS’ strategy internally and externally and is focussed on fostering and developing relationships with FinTechs.

#3 May 25th 2016, CodeClan

Talks

Are you the Problem?!

Moving to an Agile environment is a fundamental and all-pervasive mindset shift that needs to start at the top of an organisation. Drawing on his experience of Agile transformations in a variety of companies, Harvey will challenge leaders to wake up from the “illusion of control” that can render Agile impotent. Video of talk

How do you fit User Experience (UX) into Agile?

There are some big challenges fitting UX into cross functional teams working agile. What are they, and how do you overcome them? Clare will discuss her experience of different working practices, and her love of Lean UX. Video of talk

#2 March 23rd, Standard Life House

####Talks

IT’s not enough

Technology is changing faster than our ability to take advantage of it. In this talk Robert McGill, Head of Digital at Standard Life, will talk about some of the challenges IT is facing and share some ideas from his experience about how to handle them. Video of talk

Rock Solid Promises

How to deliver 95% of YOUR software projects on time or early, without bloating estimates, cutting quality or crossing your fingers. Video of talk

#1 November 25th 2015, Standard life House

####Talks

How we built Mode 2 at Standard Life

Hybrid mobile apps - why go native?

Why Mode 2 exists

Technology is evolving at an amazing rate, and customer expectations with it. Headlines are dominated by tech companies disrupting the world with new technology and fearless business models.

However many of the organisations we work in are far older than the Internet. Legacy technology, organisational silos and hierarchies are all around. Every decision involves many stakeholders and complex processes are everywhere. Change of any kind can be slow and difficult.

Can Silicon Valley thinking translate to our established, risk-exposed, regulated organisations? Should it? In any case, how can we apply technology and creativity to delight our customers and avoid being overtaken by competitors or disruptors?

We’re aiming to create a friendly, relaxed environment where we can discuss the reality of innovation in larger organisations. There will be two short talks per month, with plenty of opportunity to network afterwards over free beer/wine and pizza. The talks will cover a broad range of topics about technology, business and culture change.

We need ideas and volunteers for future talks, although the golden rule is: no sales pitches! We’re also looking for venues for future events, so please let us know if you are able to host a meetup. We’d love to build a diverse audience representing the increasingly blurred line between IT and business across different industries: financial services, public sector, energy, consultancies etc. Hope to see you there!