What is a Chapter?
A Chapter is a community of practice within an organization. It’s where engineers of a discipline (in my case, mobile) come together to share knowledge, define standards, and grow together.
Why I decided to found one
At my company, there was no formal space for mobile engineers to connect. Each product team had its own mobile devs, but there was no cross-cutting space to share patterns, solve common problems, or simply talk about the craft.
The need was clear. The execution, not so much.
The first weeks
Founding a Chapter isn’t about creating a Slack channel and holding a monthly meeting. It’s about building a culture from scratch:
- Define the purpose: Why do we exist? What problems do we solve that product teams can’t?
- Create rituals: Cross-team code reviews, lightning talks, shared architecture decision records
- Show value fast: If your Chapter doesn’t deliver tangible value in the first 4 weeks, people stop showing up
Horizontal leadership in action
The hardest part of leading a Chapter is that you have no formal authority. You’re not anyone’s manager. Your only tool is influence.
I learned that influence is built through consistency: being present, facilitating difficult conversations, celebrating the team’s wins, and always — always — giving credit to others.
What changed
After 6 months, the Chapter became the space where the most important technical decisions in the mobile area are made. Not because someone decided it, but because we proved value repeatedly.
Chapters matter more than they seem. They’re the connective tissue that maintains technical excellence in organizations that scale.