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COMMUNITIES OF
PRACTICE
ESTABLISHING AND
SUSTAINING A COP
January 31st 2017
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CONTENTS
A. What is a Community of Practice (CoP) and what
purpose does it serve?
C. Discovery workshop and feedback
D. Creating a CoP
E. Sustaining a CoP
F. Common pitfalls
G. Key success factors
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A. WHY SET UP A COP?
• Capitalise on practices
• Guarantee that practices are consistent
• Encourage the exchange of experience on a subject
• Push yourself to try new things
• Make the most of employees as individuals by giving them the opportunity to express themselves
• Promote the subject by those involved in it
• Identify contacts to perpetuate the practice
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A. WHAT IS A COP?
A group of people who share a common interest and who, by interacting,
strive to enhance their competencies, tool kit, strategy, and so on
regarding their specific practice.
A CoP is based on:
• Voluntary exchange
• Experience, practice
• A subject of common interest
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19967560 4
EXAMPLES OF COPS
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CoP in COP 21 means
Conference Of the Parties
Source: http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en/
Public speaking
Limit global warming
Meetup
BBL innovational ideas
Craftmanship experimentation
Technical culture
TO KEEP YOUR COP GOING:
FOCUS ON EACH OF THE THREE PILLARS
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Subject of common
interest, passionExperience, practice
Voluntary exchange
B. THE LIFECYCLE OF A COP
The involvement of every stakeholder is
crucial throughout a CoP's lifecycle. At
a given time an individual may be called
on to play one of the following roles:
• Coordinator
• Member
• Other
It takes very little for a CoP to die.
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First
stepsMaturityCreation GO
The steps in the lifecycle of the ideal CoP
• Creation: creating a CoP simply means having
the idea for one
• GO: launch with volunteers
• First steps: the members of the community get
into their stride after several stumbling blocks
• Maturity: keep the CoP going
• End: the subject ceases to be relevant
End
B. CREATING A COP
1. Identify
Find those people who are
interested in the same
subject as you AND who
are willing to take part
2. Plan
Organise and prepare the
kick-off workshop
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3. Coordinate the kick-off workshop
Suggested structure:
• Outline the aims
• Suggest working methods
• Define expectations
• Create and set priorities for the backlog
Who does what?
• The coordinator organises the workshop and ensures that it
runs smoothly
• Participants: identified members
Duration:
1 hour 30 minutes (depending on the number of participants, the
subject, etc.)
Without a retrospective, your CoP will
start to sink!
B. DECISIONS FOLLOWING THE KICK-OFF MEETING
• Individually, I know:
– why I am part of this community;
– what I bring to this community;
– what this community offers me.
• For the entire CoP
– We have decided to meet five times per quarter.
– Everyone pledges to add to the subject backlog (at least once per month). The backlog is
located on Trello.
– The coordinator is responsible for prioritising the backlog.
– The responsibility for handling the logistical side of meetings will alternate between different
people. I am up next.
– Those documents I believe will be useful to others will be saved on SharePoint.
– I use the slack XXDDC / channel SDFSF to chat with the members of my community every
day.
– We conduct retrospectives every three months.
– We will express any disagreement sincerely and kindly.
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C. FIRST STEPS
1. Establish the chosen logistical
framework to encourage interaction
A. 'Hot'/physical (regular meetings in
the most suitable format, lunch
and/or workshops)
B. 'Cold'/virtual (e.g. SharePoint, wiki,
slack, Yammer group)
2. Communicate regularly
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3. Before it gets under wayInteract as agreed and conduct retrospectives
Who does what?
• The coordinator checks that the decisions
made have been followed up, encourages
and supports members, communicates
regularly, sets an example by using the
chosen channels
• Participants: identified members
Duration:
Depends on the participants
You need a little visual management and self-
organisation, otherwise this isn't the right
subject!
C. EXAMPLES OF SUBJECTS IN A BACKLOG
• Problem-solving: I struggle with this or that, I have problems with...
• Request for feedback: Is someone already familiar with this scenario?
• Search for information: I am looking for architecture reference frameworks, where
can I find them?
• Coordination: What you do there may affect me here. Can we look at the
situation together and come up with a suitable strategy?
• Research: How do you answer a question submitted to our CoP?
• Be inspired: Who is ready to meet the company that seems to do things
differently?
• Shore up/supplement an idea: Here is a subject assigned to me and my
response, what do you think? Have I missed anything?
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C. MATURITY
1. Establish working methods to ensure
that the cornerstones of the CoP are
in place:
– Interest
– Practice
– Exchange and interaction
2. Regularly prioritise the backlog
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3. And it's off!Interact as agreed and conduct
retrospectives, as well as setting
challenges.
Who does what?
• Everyone manages and contributes to the
community
• Coordinator: ensures that there is no
imbalance in contributions
Duration:
Until the subject is no longer interesting or
everyone is familiar with all aspects
Just dipping your oars in the water does not
move the boat!
C. PO COMMUNITY MONITORING INDICATORS
• Actual frequency (e.g. number of monthly interactions)
• Number of participants (%)
• Number of deliverables
• Backlog dynamic: subject opening/closure rate
• Product Owner level (Neophytes – Experts)
• Role of the POs during face-to-face meetings
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D. COMMON PITFALLS
• Not conducting retrospectives
• No one setting the pace (will it organise itself?)
• Always the same people pushing/pulling - imbalance in contributions
• No indicators or follow-up
• No communication, development, dissemination of practice
• Believing that members are still as motivated as they were on day one
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E. KEY SUCCESS FACTORS
• An interesting subject
• A clear aim (learning through interaction and more?)
• Regular meetings, including retrospectives
• Smooth communication between members, with friendly feedback
• A coordinator who 'checks on' members (e.g. if they have found their place, if they
need help with something, if they would like to be in charge of a subject)
• An integration course for new members (rules of the game)
• A clear structure for results (e.g. SharePoint, Yammer)
• A fun and serious time for exchange (gamification?)
• Celebrate success
• Be open to other opinions (“Not mixing with others is dangerous. It makes you
stupid": Béatrice Barras, founder of Ardelaine): participate in meetups, invite guest
speakers, ask those not part of the community for their opinion, and so on
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ONE FINAL TIP
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Visit http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-
communities-of-practice/
