The 'Assure The A' Manifesto

ATL Field Guide

This is the field guide for bringing together a diverse group of people to learn from one another, build practical solutions, and strengthen Atlanta's technology community.

Read the field guide ↓

A weathered AssureTheA Field Guide book with chapter tabs

Intro to the A

The A is Atlanta

And everything we're asked to assure.

Access. Applications. APIs. Assets. AI. Accountability. Assurance.

Behind our mantra is an even bigger belief:

Atlanta Assures Everything.

Not because we have all the answers, but because we believe Atlanta can build a community capable of bringing assurance thinking to whatever challenges come next.

Assure the A is the rallying cry and hashtag #AssureTheA. While “Atlanta Assures Everything” is the belief in our community.

The discipline

Better ways to do assurance

What is GRC Engineering?

Traditional GRC often relies on documents, spreadsheets, screenshots, questionnaires, and manual workflows. Those tools still have a place, but the systems we govern have become faster, interconnected, and increasingly automated.

Museum display posters satirizing the pain points of NIST 800-53, GDPR, and SOC 2 — Familiar frameworks, familiar pain points. Better assurance starts by understanding the work behind the checklist.

How can we make assurance work more like the technology we're trying to assure?

01Problem
02Process
03Data
04Rules
05Automation
06Evidence
07Assurance

Sometimes the answer is code, an API, better data, or a redesigned workflow. Sometimes it's still a human making a judgment. GRC Engineering is about learning to think like an engineer about assurance problems.

Start here

Go deeper with GRC Engineering 101.

Explore the discipline, see how it differs from traditional GRC, and find practical guidance for building your skills.

Read the GRC Engineering 101 guide

Prefer to watch?

See GRC Engineering explained.

Watch the GRC Engineering introduction on YouTube

What we're building

Spoiler

Community.

We don't want our chapter to be another professional organization where people show up, collect a CPE, and leave without knowing the person beside them. Our community is our greatest project, and it exists to create relationships between people who want to explore what GRC can become.

Bring problems and pain points.Bring experiments.Bring something that worked or failed.Bring the spreadsheet you're tired of maintaining.Bring the idea you aren't quite sure how to build.

Someone else in Atlanta may have exactly the experience you need.

Who belongs here

What we ask of each other

Bring curiosity. Build trust.

You do not need a particular title or background to belong. These shared values describe how each of us helps make the community welcoming, useful, and strong.

Our member commitments

What we ask of each other.

The chapter works when people arrive ready to participate, respect one another, and make room for learning.

Atlanta Connection

Live, work, study, or have a meaningful professional connection to the Atlanta area.

GRC + Technology Curiosity

Bring curiosity about GRC, technology, and the systems that support them. Experience is not required.

Learn + Contribute

Come ready to learn, share knowledge, support others, and help maintain a welcoming community.

Respect + Repair

Engage across differences in good faith and work through conflict constructively when it arises.

Our philosophy

How we show up

Useful. Open. Human.

Practical Over Performative

Create things people can use. We favor demonstrations, working sessions, examples, experiments, and honest discussion over compliance theater.

Learn by Building

GRC Engineering makes more sense when you work on real problems. We move from talking about a challenge to mapping, designing, testing, automating, or documenting a solution.

Humans Build the Community

Technology can accelerate the work. Relationships make the community valuable. Leave with people you know, something you learned, and an idea you can apply.

Accessible by Design

You don't need engineer in your job title. You don't need to know Python, and you don't need to pretend you understand something you don't. You don't have to be an engineer to start thinking like one.

Open and Cross-Functional

Our community lives at the intersection of GRC, cybersecurity, privacy, engineering, audit, legal, operations, and AI governance. Different backgrounds are part of the design.

Keep It Simple

We'd rather have a small group actively learning from each other than a large passive audience. We add programs when the community creates a reason for them.

Our decision filterStart small. Make it useful. Let participation create the next requirement.

Where we're going

One milestone at a time

Signals of a growing community.

These aren't deadlines, and they don't imply the work is finished. They're the path we're building together.

Atlanta community members working through a zero trust whiteboard exercise together — The path forward is practical: gather around real problems, make the work visible, and build together.

01
Establish the A
Build the founding Atlanta membership and become an established chapter of the GRC Engineering Club.
02
Meet the A
Bring the community together in Atlanta and turn names on a member list into actual relationships.
03
Build Together
Examine real GRC problems, share approaches, and create useful workflows, architectures, templates, experiments, or lessons.
04
Connect Atlanta
Build with Atlanta's cybersecurity, technology, privacy, audit, risk, academic, and engineering communities.
05
Share What We're Learning
Publish useful articles, resources, demonstrations, project showcases, or briefs when we have something worth saying.
06
Give Back
Create opportunities to mentor, gain practical experience, and contribute skills to the wider GRC Engineering community.

Help build the A

Find your way in

It's an invitation.

Joining early means you have an opportunity to shape what Atlanta's GRC Engineering community becomes.

For practitioners and students

Join the Community

Come to an event. Meet another practitioner. Ask a question. Bring a problem. Show us something you built. You don't need a leadership title to contribute.

Join the official roster

Take ownership

Lead Something

You don't need to wait for a title to exist. If there's something you think our chapter should build, tell us.

Chapter Leadership
Programming & Events
GRC Engineering Projects
Community & Membership
Partnerships & Outreach
Content & Education

Explore ways to lead

Create useful partnership

Sponsor the Community

Atlanta organizations can help create accessible, practical programming. We value partnerships that create genuine value, not transactional logo placement.

Meeting or workshop space
Food and refreshments
Event support
Technology or lab resources
Subject-matter expertise
Student participation
Community projects
Practical programming partnerships

Contact the chapter president

The perks

Community is the mission and the prize

Grow with people who are building too.

Relationships are the most valuable thing we can create together. Along the way, the broader GRC Engineering Club offers structured certifications and professional development support to help turn curiosity into practical skill.

For people ready to build

CGE-P · Practitioner

A foundation in GRC Engineering with video training, hands-on labs, an open-book exam, and a real GitHub capstone. It is a strong place to start when you are unsure what to build, and you finish with an artifact that shows what you can do.

Explore the CGE-P

For auditors and assessors

CGE-AUD · Auditor Specialty

Learn to read pipelines, sample code-defined controls, and evaluate engineered evidence without becoming a software engineer. It is a standalone path with no coding background or CGE-P prerequisite.

Explore the CGE-AUD

For the next step

Professional Development

Use structured training, practical labs, portfolio work, and a community of peers to turn curiosity into a direction. The broader Club gives beginners and experienced practitioners a place to keep learning in public.

Visit the Club Academy

Welcome to the A

Assure The A.

Atlanta Assures Everything.

We're starting small. We're learning by building. And we're doing it here.

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