Emily Webber discusses how she built and grew an agile delivery community of practice at the Government Digital Service (GDS). She established forums for practitioners to share knowledge, provided in-person meetings, and let the community identify its own values over time. Webber highlights that communities are important for learning, and the GDS community was cultivated by creating a safe environment, balancing online and in-person support, and making the community self-sustaining through emergent leadership.

1. Emily Webber
Head of Agile Delivery
Government Digital Service
@ewebber

2. Government
Digital Service
(GDS)
Emily Webber GDS

3. Building a (delivery)
community
Emily Webber GDS

4. What do I know about
communities?
Emily Webber GDS

5. And who are you?
Emily Webber GDS

6. What is a community?"
Why is it important?"
How we built (and grow) ours
Emily Webber GDS

7. What is a community?
Emily Webber GDS

8. “A community is a social unit
of any size that shares
common values”"
"
- wikipedia
Emily Webber GDS

9. Interest!
Action!
Place!
Circumstance !
Practice
photo by North Charleston"

10. Community vs team
photo by chemisti

11. Individuals and interactions
over processes and tools
"
Working software
over comprehensive documentation
"
Customer collaboration
over contract negotiation
"
Responding to change
over following a plan
"
(while we value things on the left ..etc etc)
agilemanifesto.org

12. A community of practice:"
Share common values "
Share a craft or profession
Emily Webber GDS

13. Why is it important?
Emily Webber GDS

14. It’s lonely being a delivery manager :(
Emily Webber GDS

15. Communities of practice can
increase personal,
professional and
organisational learning
Emily Webber GDS

16. “There are three kinds of
knowledge: knowledge as object,
knowledge embedded within
individuals, and knowledge
embedded in a community"
"
- Wasko and Faraj (2000)
Emily Webber GDS

17. how did/do we learn to
be agile practitioners?
bit.ly/agiletrainingblog

18. Common themes

19. People learn through
experience & exploration
photo by echiner1

20. Shadowing (learning from others)
Formal training (courses, qualifications)
Self initiated learning (networking, reading blogs)"
Sharing ideas (forums, blogging, public speaking)
Small experiments (short projects, trying things out)
Questioning & retrospecting (inspect and adapt)
Emily Webber GDS

21. Shadowing (learning from others)
Formal training (courses, qualifications)
Self initiated learning (networking, reading blogs)"
Sharing ideas (forums, blogging, public speaking)
Small experiments (short projects, trying things out)
Questioning & retrospecting (inspect and adapt)
Emily Webber GDS

22. David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model
Concrete
Experience
Abstract
Conceptualisation
Reflective
Observation
Active
Experimentation
Emily Webber GDS

23. How we built "
(and grow) ours
Emily Webber GDS

24. Government Digital Service
Function
Teams
Function
Communities of practice

25. The GDS Agile Delivery
Community

26. Create a safe environment
Emily Webber GDS

27. Emily Webber photo by sanfrancisotinkeGrinDgSschool

28. Energy level and visibility
time
stewardship
coalescing
potential
transformation
maturing
discover/
imagine
incubate/deliver
immediate value
focus/
expand
ownership/
openness
let go/
live on
Cultivating Communities of Practice – A Guide to Managing Knowledge

29. Energy level and visibility
time
stewardship
coalescing
potential
transformation
maturing
discover/
imagine
incubate/deliver
immediate value
focus/
expand
ownership/
openness
let go/
live on

30. We found out who
belonged in the
community
Emily Webber GDS

31. Energy level and visibility
time
stewardship
coalescing
potential
transformation
maturing
discover/
imagine
incubate/deliver
immediate value
focus/
expand
ownership/
openness
let go/
live on

32. Set up the forums to start to
talk and learn from each
other
Emily Webber GDS

33. Sharing is caring
photo by laurie cinotto

34. email groups"
face to face meetings
Emily Webber GDS

35. email groups"
face to face meetings
Emily Webber GDS

36. Let the community
behaviour emerge
Emily Webber GDS

37. Energy level and visibility
time
stewardship
coalescing
potential
transformation
maturing
discover/
imagine
incubate/deliver
immediate value
focus/
expand
ownership/
openness
let go/
live on

38. We found out what they
needed from the
community !
"
(and what the community
needed from them)
photo by Garrett Coakley

39. Kept the conversation going
and kept it relevant
Emily Webber GDS

40. Encourage people to pair
on ideas and problems
photo by Peter Nijenhuis

41. Energy level and visibility
time
stewardship
coalescing
potential
transformation
maturing
discover/
imagine
incubate/deliver
immediate value
focus/
expand
ownership/
openness
let go/
live on

43. Identified people in the
community that could take
an active role
Emily Webber GDS

44. Let the communities
identify it’s values
photo by Jason Schlachet

45. • We care about creating the best services for
citizens"
"
• We are open and honest in our approach and
actions"
"
• We create and foster a safe and supportive
environment through trust and respect"
"
• We learn continuously through questioning,
collaboration and sharing"
"
• We welcome people with different skills and
experience and recognise their importance to
successful teams
Emily Webber GDS

46. Hire people who believe
in the same values
GDS

47. A community of practice can exist
as long as the members believe
they have something to contribute
to it, or gain from it
Emily Webber GDS

48. Summing up!
communities are important for learning"
create a safe environment"
support any online with face to face"
let the community emerge"
support it through community management"
make it meaningful
Emily Webber GDS

49. Be agile
Emily Webber GDS

50. Emily Webber
Head of Agile Delivery
Government Digital Service
@ewebber