Community is the foundation of Open Source organizations. Communities of Practice are just one type of community in those organizations. Communities of Practice (CoPs) are groups of people who engage in a process of collective learning: a team of developers seeking new solutions, a group of engineers working on similar problems, a network of business analysts exploring new techniques, a gathering of first-time project managers helping each other learn and grow. CoPs provide a unique opportunity for feedback to come directly from the field to the engineer and back again. This circle of feedback fosters teamwork, innovation, and transparency in an organization. However, Communities of Practice can only succeed if they have a strong foundation, collaboration, and a desire to share. Red Hat has over thirty-five successful global CoPs. Learn how they were created, how they continue to grow and how your organization can create their own Communities of Practice.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe Community of Practice and their benefits
• Examine Communities of Practice at Red Hat
• Formulate a plan to create your own Community of Practice