Communities of Practice: What They Are, What They Do, And What I’m Hoping to Learn
One of the most common questions I got asked in conversations with product people in 2021 was: How do I make sure to learn the right things to do the PM job well? And Product leaders in particular often asked me: How do we scale people development and make sure our overall product culture evolves? And how do we achieve this if our people development budgets are tight?
I usually reply with a few questions of my own:
Are PMs across the company meeting on a regular basis to share their experiences and challenges?
Do they make sure to learn from each other?
And once I ask these questions, people often stare back at me with blank faces. They immediately see that knowledge sharing would be a good thing. But they never considered this to be a vital part of a healthy product culture. Or perhaps they’ve thought about it, but just have no idea how to make room for knowledge sharing in a world where daily priorities and putting out fires always take precedence.
Here’s an analogy that I find useful to illustrate the concept: Pro athletes don't have a match every day. They spend a good amount of their time on training. And training often involves others, whether it’s their teammates, their coach, or other athletes.
For product people, it’s often the opposite. Every single day is a match day and some of us never spend any time on training. It’s rare for us to talk to each other about how to improve our process.
While athletes spend 95% of their time on training and 5% of their time competing, for most product people, it would even be a stretch to say that we’re doing the inverse. Even dedicating 5% of our time to “training” with our peers would be a good start. And that’s where communities of practice come in.
Community of Practice - Definition
A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly."
The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning. Wenger then significantly expanded on the concept in his 1998 book Communities of Practice.
Here are a few quotes that further explain the concept:
“They collaborate regularly to share information, improve their skills, and actively work on advancing the general knowledge of the domain. Healthy CoPs have a culture built on professional networking, personal relationships, shared knowledge, and common skills.”
They “...can evolve naturally because of the members' common interest in a particular domain or area, or it can be created deliberately with the goal of gaining knowledge related to a specific field. It is through the process of sharing information and experiences with the group that members learn from each other, and have an opportunity to develop personally and professionally.” (from Situated Learning)
What Does a CoP Help You With?
When does it make sense to start a CoP? I find that in companies with up to six product people, this type of knowledge sharing tends to occur naturally. But once you have more than six people, communication starts to break down and it helps to put a more formal system in place. You need to think about things like how often you should meet, which formats work best, how you’ll decide on topics, and ensure everyone gets something out of the exchange. And, perhaps most importantly, you’ll need to define the goals of your CoP.
If this is a new concept, you might not even be sure what a CoP is capable of. Here are some ideas of the types of topics a CoP can cover and how they can benefit your organization.
A CoP will help product people share best practices and ways to solve specific challenges. It will make it easier for product people to understand how your organization works and how to effectively work with others outside the product team. For example, you might need to work with the legal team from time to time and someone who’s done this in the past can share their experience and advice. A CoP can filter and curate content so it’s most relevant for your company and context. It can serve as a source of truth for product culture—how does your company approach work and are there any specific frameworks, tools, or methodologies you tend to use? It can provide answers and direction on personal development, addressing that recurring question I get about how to know what to focus on to become a great product manager. It can also be incredibly useful when onboarding new team members or helping product people adjust to a new role. It can serve as a safe space for product team members to share their frustrations. And finally, it can be a catalyst for driving change. While individual team members might have ideas for how to improve your team topologies, collaboration with the user research team, or other processes, they’ll have much more success when they can unite with others.
What I Would Like to Learn More About
Last year, as I was helping two of my clients start their own CoPs, I realized that I already have some knowledge on this topic. But most of it is anecdotal or based on my own experience. I would like to learn more about this topic and I would like to hear from you.
These are the questions I’m hoping to answer:
How many companies are actively encouraging internal sharing and learning?
What types of CoPs are out there?
All PMs of a company = internal community
Specialized product communities = Growth PMs, PM Leads
Local communities (e.g. Product Tanks)
Global communities (e.g. Mind the Product, Women in Product)
What formats/rituals work best? (How often do they meet? Is it informal or structured?)
How is sharing encouraged or rewarded? (Is participation considered in performance reviews, do you earn bonus points to spend on conferences/training, or offer some other type of incentive?)
What are the positive effects people see?
How I Would Like to Share My Knowledge
As I continue my research, I plan to share what I’ve learned. Here are my intentions:
I will publish the interviews I conduct.
I will share the overall learnings.
I will share some formats/templates that I’ve created that could be useful for CoPs.
If it makes sense to do so, I may share pre-curated lists for some common topics.
Want to get involved?
Would you like to get involved? I hope so! If you currently participate in a CoP and have a few minutes to spare, I’d be grateful if you could fill out this survey. Or, if you’re willing to spend a little more time in a one-on-one interview with me, get in touch with me here.