What is a Community of Practice?
A Community of Practice (abbreviated to CoP for simplicity) is a group of enthusiastic PMI members who want to exchange ideas and share experiences also through publications in the respective "field". The aim is to generate new ideas and concepts for practical application, which can then be used in practice.
Every day we are not in the ivory tower of theory, but try to find out which concepts, approaches or ideas work or work particularly well. Therefore, the focus of a CoP should be on the "P" - namely "practice".
We know of two types of CoPs....
A topic-oriented CoP and an industry-sector CoP... For the general difference between a topic-oriented CoP and an industry-sector CoP, you can listen to these two podcasts:
The CoP PMO - Project Management Office
The CoP Life Sciences - Projects in the Biotech Environment
Which CoPs do exist?
In principle, there are an infinite number. We started again with those now:
CoP AI
Objectives and benefits
The aims of this Community of Practice are:
- Collecting and exchanging knowledge on the effects of artificial intelligence on the design, planning and implementation of projects
- Investigating various questions:
- Does the use of artificial intelligence change the management of projects and if so, how?
- Which project management activities will change and how?
- How is the job profile of project managers changing?
- What do the changes mean for the training of project managers?
The aim is to build up, consolidate and expand your own knowledge on the topic of artificial intelligence in project management. The focus is on building a network for exchanging ideas on the topic of artificial intelligence in project management.
(s. News: Announcement of a Community of Practice "Artificial Intelligence in Project Management")
Contact
Wolfgang Friesike
E-Mail to: Wolfgang Friesike: cop-ki@pmi-gc.de
CoP Energy
Objectives and benefits
The aims of this Community of Practice are: To show how energy development projects can really succeed, especially green ones, with which measures and tools. Don't miss the opportunity to deepen your understanding and contribute to the discourse on sustainable energy practices.
Contact
NN (requests to Joerg Glunde, VP Members)
E-Mail an: cop-energy@pmi-gc.de
CoP Life Sciences
Objectives and benefits
The aims of this Community of Practice are:
Our CoP "Life Sciences" consists of several interested PMI members from the pharmaceutical, biotech, laboratory technology and medical technology sectors. As part of the kick-off, we would like to introduce our group and our goals for this exciting new project. Unlike many other industries, the process industry is characterized by a high degree of regulation. This ensures that the efficacy, safety and quality of drugs, for example, are sufficiently understood before they become generally available. Due to the clearly defined framework conditions and the large amount of data required, for example, in the application for approval, the pharmaceutical and biotech industries have some special features, such as long product development cycles. We would like to give project managers from these industries a platform to exchange experiences and make their daily work more efficient.
(s. News: Community of Practice - Life Sciences)
Contact
Risa Inagaki (Head of CoP Life Sciences)
E-Mail to: Risa Inagaki, cop-lifesciences@pmi-gc.de
Our general Topics-CoP
Objectives and benefits
We face new challenges in projects every day. With this CoP, we want to take a "deep dive" into a wide range of topics from the broad field of project management across all industries and develop new approaches to tackling these issues, as well as publish them in presentations and articles where appropriate.
Contact
Oliver Dening
E-Mail to: Oliver Dening, General Topics CoP
CoP Pragmatic Multi-Project Management for SMEs
Goals and Benefits
Many SMEs face a mountain of tasks such as digitalization, ESG, NIS2, AI Act, etc. - all while dealing with acute skilled labor shortages and demanding day-to-day operations.
The ability to implement new initiatives and projects as quickly as possible is now becoming a decisive competitive factor.
However, there is no time for the usual standard recipe: Implementing a company-wide project and portfolio management system, with all its as-is and to-be process analyses, requirement specifications, as well as benchmarking, implementation, and training measures, would only show results in one to two years, while significantly increasing the current workload. This would only make everything worse right now.
What is needed now is a pragmatic first step that immediately (!!) helps to work through the mountain of tasks. With the existing team. In parallel with daily business.
This is explicitly not about project management by the book. It is about speed in implementing new initiatives. Speed is the new Execution Excellence. For more on Execution Excellence, see: https://execution-excellence-manifesto.org/
This is precisely why a Community of Practice (CoP) was founded at the PMI Germany Chapter: the CoP "Pragmatic Multi-Project Management for SMEs."
In this Community of Practice, pragmatic principles and tools are developed, provided, taught, and further evolved, enabling companies to:
- Start immediately without special IT requirements or multi-project management knowledge
- Achieve digital overview and decision-making capability in the project portfolio within four to eight weeks
- Implement initiatives faster and with less effort - with the same team
- Develop competencies and processes "on-the-job" and continuously improve them
Contact
Thomas Koytek and Klaus NItsche
E-Mail to: Thomas Koytek and Klaus Nitsche, CoP SME, cop-kmu@pmi-gc.de
Absolutely NEW: Lean-Agile CoP
Objectives and benefits
Our Lean-Agile Community of Practice (CoP) provides a platform for you to network, share experiences and to deepen your knowledge of agile and lean practices in project management. Whether you are already using agile or lean methods in your projects, planning to introduce them, or aspiring to PMI-ACP® certification, this is the place for you.
Unlike isolated training courses or loose networks, we offer a supportive environment that helps you to contribute and continuously develop your agile skills.
What is the purpose of the CoP?
Not only do we want to share knowledge and foster discussion, but we also want to create an inspiring environment to collaboratively develop lean and agile techniques and practices for use in project management - and to share these developments with the membership.
Our focus areas are:
- Sharing knowledge: Interacting with project managers and experts from different industries to learn from each other's experiences, sharing new knowledge with chapter members and, where appropriate, the profession as a whole.
- Develop best practices: Opportunities to identify lean and agile principles in the daily project environment and develop best practices.
- Apply in practice: Let's discover together how to successfully apply agile and lean principles - including in hybrid project environments and multi-project management.
Practical support: We help you apply lean and agile practices in your own projects and find practical solutions. - Cross-CoP Collaboration: Our goal is to collaborate with other PMI CoPs and share industry-specific applications of lean or agile methods..
Who is the CoP for?
The CoP is open to all members of the PMI Germany Chapter who are interested in learning more about and further developing their lean and agile practices.
In our CoP we are looking for active members who are willing to get involved, have an influence and learn from each other. It is important to us that all participants take an active part in the exchange, contribute their expertise and ideas and thus make the CoP a vital and productive community. (A pure consumer attitude does not fit our approach - we value engagement and mutual support).
So, if you want to be part of an active community working together to achieve agile excellence in project management, then join us! We look forward to hearing about you and your experiences!
Contact
Eva Almasi and Diana Lang
E-Mail to: Eva Almasi und Diana Lang, Lean-Agile CoP, cop-agile@pmi-gc.de
We started with a handful first, also to gain experience and see how the interaction works. These first CoPs were realised by the Volunteers of the PMI Germany Chapter:
You want to participate?
Only chapter members can join our Communities of Practice. Do you want to become a member? Everything is explained >>> here. Or become a member of the PMI Germany Chapter.
