On communities

When theory meets practice things can happen. Some ten years ago Communities of Practice were the buzz in knowledge organizations. Including in the one where I was serving as CKO at the time. We managed to establish a decent call for action and the concept, together with an IT solution, proved relatively easy to introduce (and a little harder to sustain).

In general, and as with other organizational development concepts, some organizations did better with CoPs than others. Some did worse.
Among cutting edge practitioners, communities have spawned an interest in additional related topics like e.g. the art of collaboration, the act of knowing and the nature of expertise.

Not surprisingly, expert thinking about communities has evolved since the early days of pioneering efforts and after years of practical experience.
Etienne Wenger - the original community guru - has pointed to the value of peripheral participation as an example of how the original concept has changed somewhat over time.
Here’s Wenger in an interview at the University of Manchester:
http://www.239productions.co.uk/wenger/

My own pragmatic (and somewhat heretical) conclusion is that it doesn’t always matter that much what theory says. What does matter though is a clear insight into what needs to be accomplished and a good understanding of various concepts in order to find the approach that has the best chance of actually working in the organization and its business environment. And of course not forgetting to make the effort.