If you’ve read my agile journal so far, you know that I love getting involved in the local Agile community here in Toronto. I have invested a lot of my time in this community since May 2016, not only to learn but also to give back to the community. I can even go to the extent of saying that everything I know about Agile is because of this community.
What is so special about this community anyway, you might ask?
Simply put, the Agile Community in Toronto is
SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS
Wait a minute! How is that word simple, Noel?
Well, even though the sound of that word is something quite atrocious (Mary Poppins, anyone?), it simply means wonderful or fantastic.
So, what will this community do for you?
- Welcome you as you are, and help create a sense of belonging
- Create continuous learning opportunities for you through various “free” meetups
- Be your support system along your Agile journey
- Help open doors for you to progress your career when you choose to build lasting relationships
All that sounds great, Noel! What if I don’t live in Toronto?
Agile Alliance has created a community on Meetup.com which can be found here
As you can see, there are 54 meetup groups spread across 12 different countries.
That’s amazing. What if I don’t live in one of those countries, Noel?
Not all local Agile meetups are a part of this online meetup community. A good example would be to look at the list of meetup groups within Toronto which I have curated, and you will see that only 3 out of 10 meetups from my list are a part of this Agile Alliance Community. The remaining 7 meetup groups (and there are more which I haven’t included in my list) are also active, meaning they organize regular meetups. Simply search for the keyword “Agile” on the meetup.com website to see which related meetups are happening within your city/area, and join the ones which have meetups scheduled in the coming months.
That’s great, Noel. What if there are no meetups within my city/area and the closest one is in the next suburb which is miles away from where I live/work?
Start one, like we did.
There were no active Agile meetup groups in Mississauga, which is a part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). We knew there were many Agilists living in and around Mississauga who couldn’t get to all those meetups which were primarily organized in Downtown Toronto, so we decided to start one. It’s called Agile Dialogue Mississauga and our first meetup is on July 4, 2018 from 5:30 to 8:30 PM and we have 75 RSVPs so far 🙂
Like I pointed out the benefits of getting involved in the local Agile community earlier in this post, make use of every opportunity you get to either be a part of your local community or, create one 😉
Dedicated to the Agile Community of GTA, My heart is filled with gratitude for this community.
Title Image Credit: https://blog.discordapp.com/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-community-server-a049d126f2ac
