Community of Practice

Communities of Practice (CoP) are a network of people who are engaged in the process of collective learning in a shared domain. In the organisational context,  it  could  be  a  group  of  engineers  who  are  working  on  similar problems or it could be group of analysts who try new methods of problem analysis. Communities of Practice have groups of people who engage in joint activities and discussion or share their knowledge in there area of specialisation.  They  need  not  be  colleagues  at  work  place  but  they essentially interact on a regular basis to discuss the knowledge area.

CoPs are practioners who share knowledge of experience that enable them to work efficiently. The community develops their practice through different activities which include solving problem, requesting for information (For example, a software code requested for a particular module), seeking experience (For example, while addressing complicated problems), reusing the assets (For example, setting up a second unit of network similar to the first with the same plans and procedure approach), coordinating and synergising, discussing the latest technological changes, documenting the projects of the experience and also mapping knowledge and also identifying the gaps.