GrandViewCentral

I believe Communities of Practice could help the product management community at large.

Communities of Practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.

Three characteristics are crucial:

•The domain: A community of practice is not merely a club of friends or a network of connections between people. It has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. Membership therefore implies a commitment to the domain, and therefore a shared competence that distinguishes members from other people.

•The community: In pursuing their interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other. A website in itself is not a community of practice. Having the same job or the same title does not make for a community of practice unless members interact and learn together.

•The practice: A community of practice is not merely a community of interest–people who like certain kinds of movies, for instance. Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems—in short a shared practice. This takes time and sustained interaction.

Why participate in a Community of Practice

“I was able to engage two mentors to assist in obtaining guidance and counsel. As a result I improved my relationship with the client and was able to leverage subject expertise from individuals to assess and provide recommendations on an IT / business architecture in only three weeks, saving weeks of time. And we signed a $4m contract that would have gone to a major competitor.” IBM

• Improved Client Relationships
• Time Savings
• Increased Revenue
• New Business

“I used the community’s Q&A forum to ask a question related to a project I was working on. I received 10 or so responses. Some of my questions were answered outright whereas I received leads on where to find answers to other ones. It saved me time in that I didn’t need to spend time searching the web or researching. I was able to get quick and precise leads on things I was interested in. Difficult to quantify saving but probably in the order of three to four days work.” Siemens

• Access to Knowledge
• Time Savings
• Ability to Execute

“Documents and templates from other community members saved at least 60% of my time for the project implementation process and around 40% during the planning phase. It also helped with customer satisfaction, creating confidence that the project was conducted under effective methodology, process, and procedures. Potential cost savings may be in excess of 30%.” Johnson & Johnson

• Customer Satisfaction
• Time Savings
• Cost Savings

“The materials I received saved me and my teams between three and six months of research and distillation activities. That time allowed us to kick off the pilot program on time and more effectively than we likely would have done alone. I am convinced we benefited greatly from the improved skills. Certainly my performance review for last year would not have been as successful as it was if not for the level of expertise I gained from others.” Bristol-Myers Squibb

• Customer Satisfaction
• Project Success
• Employee Performance
• Increased Skills & Know How

How do I start?

There is a set of syndicated Product Management Communities of Practice, illustrating the cross-functional multi-disciplined nature of Product Management. You can start receiving the benefits discussed above by joining a LinkedIn group representing the Community of Practice of your choice. The images below are hyper-linked to Linkedin.

ByronWorkman Product Management