Project Management Community of Practice Inaugural Meeting August 3, 2006

What is a Community of Practice? The following explanations from Max’s Project Management Wisdom http://www.maxwideman.com

What is a Community of Practice? Common language - the group has some sort of language of its own Shared background - the members have some shared background or baseline knowledge Common purpose - the group has a broad common purpose, which gives it a continuing impetus Creation of new knowledge - through the work of the group and the interaction of its member's new knowledge is created and shared Interaction - there needs to be some form of social interaction Dynamism - because of differential levels of knowledge and experience within the group there is a dynamic interplay between members as this is shared and recombined Evolution - there is continuing, evolutionary development within the group

Voluntary - membership is generally voluntary Narration - swapping "stories" is a key way in which members share their knowledge Informal - the group is informal, with no official hierarchy Fluidity - newcomers arrive and old-timers leave Self perpetuating - as communities generate knowledge they reinforce and renew themselves

Community of Practice Because they are voluntary and informal, communities of practice benefit from cultivation but not from control. However, to thrive they need support and a wide variety of tools to enable the easy exchange and sharing of tips, ideas, knowledge and experience. Above all, they need a common, shared sense of purpose and understanding of what they are trying to achieve.

Community of Practice Good communities of practice collaborate directly, with members using one another as sounding boards, imparting knowledge and learning from each other. They are usually comprised of a diverse group of people with a variety of backgrounds and experience who find common cause in building best practice, solving problems, learning and coming up with new ideas. In the process, participants come to recognize that knowledge is "sticky". It can be shared without being lost and that in the process of sharing it, knowledge actually multiples. Innovation is, after all, no more and no less than the recombination of existing knowledge - but in new, better and different ways!