Everyone hits a challenge at some point in adopting agile and belonging to a larger community can help you overcome those challenges. Whether you call it a tribe, a user group, or a community of practice, having a group of people to share ideas with and learn from is a valuable tool to further your personal development and maintain your sanity. Learn about what communities of practice are, how to start them, and why they’re an important part of growing agile.

1. Creating Strong and
Passionate Communities
of Practice
Allison & Ty

2. ?
What is a Community of
Practice?
A group of people with
a common interest
A group of people
with a common goal of
improving
A group of people who
share experiences
Domain Community Practice

3. The First Agile Community of
Practice…
What did the agile manifesto signatories
want to do by gathering?
How to do work better…
Find out the things we have in common.
Discover our strengths. Leverage our
skills.
What can we take away from them?

4. The Evolution of
Communities of Practice
Center of Excellence
User Groups
A long time ago…
at a company
far far away
Open Space
CoPs

5. CoP Events
Solve a problem
Workshop
Sage on stage
Collaboration
Presenters from
outside our
wheelhouse
Community
presenters
Social Events

6. The Community Extends
Outside of the Meeting
A lunch room conversation
Crowdsourcing your problem
Small Groups
Study Buddies

7. ?
Why Have a Community of
Practice?
What does the
individual
receive?
What does the
organization
receive?
What does the
community
receive?

8. ?Who is Your Community For?
Who is the target?
Who presents?
ScrumMasters Teams Managers Organizations
ACTIVITY

9. ?What is Your Vision?
What makes this different from
other groups?
What is your purpose? What do
you do?
What state, context or situation
is your target in?
ACTIVITY

10. ?How are We Doing It?
I say that it's incredibly simple. Pick a
date, a time, a location, and invite people.
- Allison Pollard http://www.allisonpollard.com
Don't give up too easily
Be happy with whoever shows
up
Pick a good location
The invitation matters

11. ?
What Type of Space is Needed
for the Community of Practice?
Modular, open space
Big open wall space
Great lighting

12. ?
How Much Does a
Community of Practice Cost?
$$

13. D I S C
?
What Type of People are Needed to
Run a Community of Practice?
ENTJ Extraverted
iNtuitive
Thinking
Judging
Sanguine
Choleric
Melancholic
Phlegmatic
The Four Temperaments
Myers-Briggs
Keirsey Temperament Sorter
Artisan
Guardian
Idealist
Rationalist

14. ?
What will the Community of
Practice Need from Me?
It depends! What type of
community of practice…
You may start with shadowing for
ceremonies. Move on to walk-a-miles.
You may start with TDD workshops.
Move on to code katas.
Presentations Community Connections Workshops
You may start with sharing product walls.
Move on to prioritization styles.

15. ?
What Other Things Can a
Community of Practice Do?
C o P
Reveal organizational
impediments
Guide the organization
Raise the overall ability of the
organization

16. Now What?
?Possible futures
Stuff that needs
doing
People to serve
What types of
people are
needed

17. ?
How Do We Create a
Backlog?
Backlog Doing Done
Value Stream
Don’t make long term plans
Reprioritize or recreate the
backlog ever 6 months
Maybe 3 months
Try a Lean Coffee!
http://leancoffee.org

18. Did It Work?
?They stayed
after the
meeting
They stayed
until the end
They showed
up

19. Lifecycle of a Community of
Practice
Freshman
Sophomore
Senior
Addressing the needs of the individual
who actively seeks out the community
Addressing the issues of the
organization(s) that it exists within
Addressing the issues of the greater
community that its domain caters to

20. Community Growth Pattern
Agile Practice
Technical ExcellenceProduct Management Scrum Master, Coaches
PO, BA, PM, UX QA, Automation, UX,
Architecture, XP, Specific
Languages: .NET, Java,
Cobol, Fortran, Pascal
Frameworks:
Scrum, Lean, Kanban;
Coaching/Mentoring,
Facilitation, Training, Tools
Locations

21. Resources
Dallas Agile
Leadership
Network
Dallas Agile
Community of
Practice
DFW Scrum

22. Allison Pollard
!
allison.pollard@improvingenterprises.com!
@allison_pollard
Servant Husband
Father Ally
Artist
Agilist
Gamer
Scrum Master
Ty Crockett
tycrockett@tycrockett.com!
ty.crockett@improvingenterprises.com!
@TTcrockeTT
Agile Coach
Scrum Master
Project Manager
Glasses Wearer
Theta Tau Fraternity Member