Communities of Practice for Functional Learning in Agile Contexts: Definition Approach and Call for Research

Abstract

With the increasing relevance of information technology and software development in particular, the popularity of agile working methods like Scrum and Kanban has grown significantly in recent years. Characteristic for many agile frameworks like Scrum is the work in cross-functional teams. While this has many advantages in development, cross-functional teams make functional learning very challenging. Therefore, so-called Communities of Practice (CoPs) have been established in practice. This paper defines CoPs in the agile context and reviews existing literature on CoPs in agile context. There is very little literature how CoPs in the agile context are employed to enhance functional learning. The author calls for more scientific research for example on CoP’s success factors and contribution to functional learning outcomes in agile environments.