Driessen Samuel's Library tagged team → View Popular

22 Apr 09

27 Mar 09

Communities of Practice typically are a group of people coming together to share and learn about a common interest; as well as building a voluntary output of materials. These are usually not driven by management, instead participation is voluntary, and traditionally the goal is about learning and building capabilities rather than performing tasks.

Anyway here is a comparison in dynamics between Teams and CoPs.

	Team	CoP
Purpose	Achieve an outcome (task) or provide a service/product Explicit processes/standards Explicit timelines, tasks and goals	Shared area of interest (organic growth) Learning and sharing (rather than completing a task) No expected time limit
Members	Defined roles (but value team success)	Informal roles (not all contributors) Core group (but people come and go) Experienced members earn greater status
Manage	Explicit leader or manager (others on equal footing)	Community Coordinator (others on equal footing)
Participation	Required participation Expected reciprocity High interdependency (can’t succeed without each other)	Encourage participation and enthusiasm Power Law Distribution

Transparency is such a key factor to a more effective workplace…decisions become more relevant as other groups are able to listen in and intervene or make suggestions before a decision is made.

As mentioned the most natural types of online communities are the one’s that are *pure* communities of practice. That is, cross-functional people (perhaps in different offices) that have a common interest, and want a space to leverage each others know-how.
“If a community has value it will form and the technology now allows that.”

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