LeadDev London Meetup - 10th September 2026

LeadDev London meetup 🎟 Please RSVP BELOW! 🎟 Join us for our next LeadDev meet-up on September 10th and enjoy an evening of networking and talks. Date: Thursday, 10th September Time: 6 - 9pm Location: Softwire, 315, Highgate Studios, 53-79 Highgate Rd, London NW5 1TL Spaces are limited - you must RSVP to attend. We hope to see you there! ⏰ SCHEDULE ⏰ 18:00 - Arrival, networking and refreshments 18:30 - Welcome from our host 18:40 - Hidden Dissent Is the Bottleneck That Quietly Breaks Delivery - Manogna Machiraju 19:00 - Building Software with Empathy - Stuart Knowles 19:10 - Break 19:40 - Goodwill - The currency of a great leader - Mike Tang 20.00 - Networking 21.00 - Close 🎤 SPEAKERS 🎤 Hidden Dissent Is the Bottleneck That Quietly Breaks Delivery Hidden dissent creates decision latency that slows delivery. Learn how leaders can surface risk early without adding process, friction, or overhead. Manogna Machiraju - Head of Engineering, ATG Entertainment Manogna is a senior engineering leader with over a decade of experience scaling high-performing teams, modernising platforms, and navigating delivery in high-pressure, regulated environments. Currently driving enterprise AI adoption and agentic commerce initiatives, she focuses on where modern engineering constraints actually live: not in the speed of writing code, but in the latency and clarity of decision-making. Manogna pairs deep technical execution with systems-level operating frameworks that help leaders de-risk roadmaps, eliminate decision bottlenecks, and build resilient engineering cultures without bureaucratic overhead. Building Software with Empathy For any project, clear business requirements are important, but in practice are rarely exhaustive. I believe that the best way to fill in the gaps is conscious empathy on the part of your developers. In this talk, I'll explain the damage that can be done if your developers aren't connected to users, and some strategies for closing that gap. You'll learn how to lead a team driven by empathy rather than technical requirements, and how that benefit both developers and users alike. Stuart Knowles Goodwill - The currency of a great leader I believe that goodwill is the currency of leadership, which can be earned and spent like any other. In this talk, I'll explain how it's earned through quiet deposits like developing people, taking the blame, and explaining the "why", and how and when to spend it in the moments that actually test a team. People should walk away with a clear line between nice and kind, a sharper eye for the small withdrawals that drain trust without anyone noticing, and a reason to start building their reserve before the reality and pressure of business hits. Mike Tang 🔹 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 London community. Join the channel leaddev-london or london. 🙏🏻 THANK YOU 🙏🏻 Thank you to our London meet-up partner Softwire.