A practical approach to creating your own successful and viable agile Community of Practice.

1. AGILE COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE:
SET UP, SUSTAIN, AND SUCCEED!
SESHADRI VEERARAGHAVAN
PRINCIPAL PROJECT MANAGER – AGILE TRANSFORMATION
IHS, INC. – HOUSTON, TEXAS
A PRACTICAL APPROACH

2. DEFINITIONS – COMMON UNDERSTANDING
• Community (noun) - com·mu·ni·ty
• a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.
• a similarity or identity.
• Practice (noun) – prac·tice
• the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method as opposed to theories about such application or use.
• repeated exercise in or performance of an activity or skill so as to acquire or maintain proficiency in it.
• Practice (verb)
• perform (an activity) or exercise (a skill) repeatedly or regularly in order to improve or maintain one's
proficiency.
• carry out or perform (a particular activity, method, or custom) habitually or regularly.

3. COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
Cognitive anthropologists Lave and Wenger define it as a group of people who
-- share a passion for something they do
-- learn how to do it better
-- interact regularly

4. EXAMPLES OF COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
• Research areas by Lave and Wenger included studying learning among
• Yucatan midwives
• Tailors in Liberia
• Insurance claims processors
• These groups exhibited common paradigms of sharing, learning, and growth

5. A MODERN-DAY EXAMPLE OF A COP: XEROX
• Xerox repairmen in the field used to informally exchange tips and tricks on common problems
• Communication usually done over lunch and informal meetings
• Eureka database created to keep track of these tips and tricks
• Savings due to the Eureka database: over $100 MM USD

6. CHARACTERISTICS OF A SUCCESSFUL COP
• Domain (e.g. agile)
• Community (e.g. ScrumMasters)
• Practice (the practical aspect of the application of the knowledge and sharing the learnings)

7. SO, WHY SET UP A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE?
• Share
• Learn
• Grow
• Teach
• Enrich
• Mentor

8. BENEFITS OF COP
• Organic organizational growth
• Higher productivity
• Happier employees
• Cost savings
• Sharing of key knowledge and technologies
• Unexpected and fruitful collaboration
• Empathy and shared emotions, leading to stronger employee bonding that transcends normal,
business-as-usual interactions
• Smoother and easier onboarding of new employees
• A safe environment within which one can learn without judgment and contribute without fear
• Employee empowerment and engagement
• Ownership through involvement
• Innovation through broader collection of ideas

9. HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN COP
Practical steps to creating a great Community of Practice

10. STEP 1 – IDENTIFY THE COP
• Identify the Community that you wish to create (and for which there is an active need)
• Example communities: ScrumMasters; Product Owners; Architects; QA; Developers
• Your role is not important – your passion, commitment, and sphere of influence are

11. STEP 2 – IDENTIFY THE STAKEHOLDERS
• Figure out who the stakeholders are (influencing; removing roadblocks)
• Example: Development/QA directors and managers; PMO directors and managers
• Resources and time are not free
• Understand and respect the time commitments of all involved

12. STEP 3 – EDUCATE THE STAKEHOLDERS
• Critical aspect – you must be able to demonstrate the value of such a Community
• Be upfront about what’s needed from participants and sponsors
• Promise to start small and fail quickly and cheaply

13. STEP 4 – IDENTIFY THE MEMBERS
• Can be done as a parallel/background task with Step 2
• Get recommendations from the stakeholders on those with
• solid knowledge
• ability and willingness to
• share and learn
• These will be your primary contacts, contributors, and cheerleaders

14. STEP 5 – GET EXECUTIVE SPONSOR (ES) BUY-IN
• Set the scenario by having casual/informal chats; have stakeholders mention the initiative to the ES in
advance to “prepare the ground”
• Set up 1:1 meeting with the ES – explain background in the invite
• Prepare well for the meeting – use as few slides as possible
• Show passion and demonstrate knowledge
• Explain previous communications and acceptance by other stakeholders
• Explain the goals and aims of the Community
• Show the value to the bottom line, morale, and productivity by removing silos and sharing learnings
• Show the potential of the Community by listing the numbers of those that may be involved

15. STEP 6 – CREATE THE CHARTER/MANIFESTO
• The Charter defines your Community’s purpose and goals
• Don’t be too specific
• Leave room for changes as they may very well happen
• Don’t tie yourself down to any specific methodology or a rigid structure/hierarchy
• You’re flattening the landscape at this point – so don’t create silos or towers

16. STEP 7 – SET UP THE WEBSITE/SOCIAL SITE
• SharePoint has easy-to-use templates to create a basic site
• If using an ESN such as Jive – your work is even easier as it’s geared towards collaboration already
• Upload all of the known information so far: charter, useful links, relevant pictures and videos
• List the executive sponsor’s name if allowed to do so
• Keep the content fresh and relevant
• Create a special area to track members (name, email, location, role, and their profile site on the
intranet)

17. STEP 8 – SOLICIT MEMBERS AND GENERATE BUZZ
• Get stakeholders to talk about this effort via email; in meetings; in the intranet as blogs etc.
• Once the buzz sets in, reach out to the members and set up group meetings
• Explain the purpose, charter, goals, and any other useful information
• Follow-up by saying they’ll hear back soon

18. STEP 9 – INVITE THE MEMBERS
• Send out a formal communication to the invitees
• List the site URL and other relevant details
• Have them update the member list area of the site so they’ll be involved right from the start
• Encourage them to explore and provide initial thoughts and feedback on the site
• Find a volunteer to make those changes – this will entrench the Community aspect a bit more

19. STEP 10 – LAUNCH THE COMMUNITY
• Find a suitable time
• Set it up for an hour – no more
• Invite should list the specifics and regurgitate some of the information (this is important at the outset)
• Bring in an expert from within or outside of the company for a talk
• Have them emphasize the value/benefits/relevance of this initiative
• Have the expert speak to their direct experience and provide examples of previous success

20. STEP 11 – SUSTAIN THE COMMUNITY
• How to collaborate
• engage via internal social media or website
• via email (not preferred) if needed
• via regular sessions (WebEx and teleconference)
• record the sessions
• upload the recordings and related artifacts and send out follow-up email promptly
• have members come up with ideas for the backlog
• let people vote (if possible) on the next session/future sessions
• create an email distribution list for easy access to the members

21. STEP 12 – SUCCEED!
• After 2-3 months, request feedback on the Community
• Make changes gradually
• Point out the changes being made if appropriate to satisfy those requesting them
• List successes and bring to the attention of the stakeholders and executive sponsor
• Invite stakeholders and executive sponsor to ALL sessions (let them decide if they wish to attend)
• Publish periodic executive summaries in newsletter format, easy to read, short, relevant and interesting.
Include links, graphics, and resources

22. Q&A/SOURCES
• Sources:
• Wikipedia (Communities of Practice/Lave and Wenger)
• Contact:
• Seshadri.Veeraraghavan@ihs.com