Communities of Practice:

Case Study:

Client Issue

Undergoing significant transformational change - process, organisation & people
Process transformation would revamp all project management and IT processes leading to efficient & consistent ways of working to enable confident & predictable delivery
People transformation - introduction of a high performance culture and raising the bar on expected skills and behaviours. Introducing IT professionalism and knowledge sharing.
Organisational - more use of third party suppliers, flexible resourcing and assignment based working
Raise engagement in transformation programme

Overall Approach

Agree the strategic context for communities of practice
Engage & educate key stakeholders. Agree design principles with key stakeholders
Support the introduction of communities by providing resources (including people), best practice from other organisations and a programme management structure
Get going - identify the areas of high potential / high value to enable communities of practice to focus on delivering business benefit as soon as possible
Integrate with business as usual processes
Research external and internal best practice and incorporate into the framework

Success Factors

Inclusion of all employees into at least one community
Engagement of all members and stakeholders - encourage the community to grow from within. Coach & mentor rather than direct action.
Focus on business context for each community - exploit high potential areas - do not force the same model and same business agenda on all
Learn from others - create strong community amongst the community leaders

Summary of Deliverables

Community events - both high profile / high energy launch and then regular community events to engage members
Delivery of resources and management infrastructure for 7 communities of practice
Amended resource utilisation model to allow professionals to contribute to the community
Recognition for high value contributors to the community
Standard professional profiles - career paths aligned to organisational strategy
Amended people management processes such as promotions , recruitment processes and criteria
Practice roles defined and implemented - sponsors, owners leaders, process owners volunteers
Newly designed processed deployed consistently and accredited at CMMi Level 3
Active knowledge sharing communities using face to face, peer training and support and intranet based solutions

Challenges Faced

Getting the balance right; organic growth versus formal programme
The right people to lead the communities were in demand elsewhere
Gaining initial buy in and support and then once up and running keeping the community agenda manageable and business focussed
Obtaining time from busy professionals in a delivery focussed organisation

Benefits Achieved