continuous learning through communities of practice (and how to build one)
TRANSCRIPT
Continuous learning through communities
of practice (and how to build one)
Emily Webber @ewebber KCE June 2015
This is Rob
This is rubbish
Hello, I’m Emily Webber (I love building learning communities)
GDS
Who are you?
What happens if we don’t and they stay?
What happens if we invest in developing our people and
then they leave?
The Organisation’s dilemma
We are in the age of the learning worker
Photo by Amancay Maahs
We need a toolbox of skills and the ability to adapt and learn
T-Shaped people make teams and organisations more resilient
• Shadowing / learning from others
• Formal training
• Self-initiated learning
• Sharing ideas and support
• Small experiments and running short projects
• Questioning and retrospecting
gov.uk/service-manual/agile/training-and-learning.html
Ways to learn (Agile & lean)
ha (破)
ri (離)
Needs some freedom
Needs a manual
Writes the manual
Wants to make plans
Expert
Proficient
Competent
Advanced beginner
Novice
Adapts to situations
How we acquire skills
shu (守)
The Dreyfus model of skill acquisition
Photo by Vox Efx
Feedback loops help us learn better and more rapidly
Photo by joinash
Silos inhibit organisational learning
The Community of Practice or Professional Learning Community
Oh look, it saves you money too
From: public.dhe.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/bus/hcm/rbtt/ford.pdf
Ford’s community delivered $1bill of value
from 1995 - 2002 for an annual investment
of $500,000
i2 reduced implementation time
From: nickmilton.com/2013/04/quantified-success-stories-through-km.html
3-4 months
4-6 weeks
From: academia.edu/461124/Community_of_Practice
Safety Community of Practice at Misys stopped people having accidents
Compensation Claims Compensation Claims Costs
2005 2006 2007
$0.00$110.00
$1,050.00
2005 2006 2007
02
5
How do you build your own?
Growth of a community of practiceE
ner
gy le
vel a
nd
vis
ibili
ty
time
Coalescing
Potential
Transformation
Maturing
Discover/ imagine
Incubate/ Deliver
immediate value
Focus/ expand
Ownership/ openness
Let go/ live on
Stewardship
Growth of a community of practiceE
ner
gy le
vel a
nd
vis
ibili
ty
time
Coalescing
Potential
Transformation
Maturing
Discover/ imagine
Incubate/ Deliver
immediate value
Focus/ expand
Ownership/ openness
Let go/ live on
GDS
Stewardship
Potential
A safe to fail learn environment
POTENTIAL
POTENTIAL
Photo by Doran
You need an empowered, knowledgable and passionate community leader
Government Digital Service (GDS)Te
ams
Community of practice
Programme
POTENTIALTe
ams
Team
s
Programme
1111 1
2222 2
3333 3
AAAA A
BBBB B
CCCC C
POTENTIAL
how we do it
Product / Service
managerB B
Community of practice (line management)
what we do
POTENTIAL
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1018963/Articles/SpotifyScaling.pdf
Spotify
Photo by Kevin Dooley
POTENTIAL
Find out who is in your community and talk to them
Photo by Dubwise Version
POTENTIAL
Have an initial vision and share it with the community
Coalescing
Photo by tiffany terry
COALESCING
Create opportunities to get people together
Photo by Adam Foster
COALESCING
Face to face communication is crucial for building trust
COALESCING
Welcome different skills levels and experience
Find out what people need from
the community (and what they can give
back to it)
COALESCING
COALESCING
Create a shared backlog to work against as a team
Maturing
Photo by until we see new land
MATURING
Revisit your vision and create your values with the community
Photo by Emily Webber
MATURING
Hire people who share those values
Good community skill distributionnu
mbe
r of p
eopl
e
Skills level / confidence
HighMediumLow
MATURING
Photo by Ram Balmur
MATURING
Pairing is not just for developers
Mentoring triads
person 1 person 2
person 3
MATURING
Photo by Peter Nijenhuis
MATURING
Keep the conversation going and keep it relevant
Stewardship
STEWARDSHIP
Photo by Scott Cresswell
Identify people in the community that can take an active role
改善 (Kaizen)
STEWARDSHIP
A community can only exist as long as the
members believe they have something to
contribute to, or gain from it
This is Alice
Now it’s your turn
Thank you.
Emily Webber @ewebber