Home | Education & Distance Learning Articles | Article

Knowledge sharing system and communities of practice: supporting DAU's performance learning model - Acquisition, Technology And Logistics

Program Manager - September 1, 2003

Continued from page 2.

If you have any questions or are interested in actively participating in the CM CoP as an area manager/editor, please contact Jeff Birch, DAU knowledge project officer at jeffrey.birch@dau.mil.

Systems Engineering--the Systems Engineering (SE) Community provides guidance in the SE process, including requirements analysis and standardization, presents a variety of SE-specific tools, and encourages communication and collaboration among community members. The SE area currently has the largest number of postings: 180. The site contains a number of free job aids, such as the DAU and Air Force Space and Missile Command Systems Engineering guides. It also contains free software tools, such as the probability consequence software, risk management software, and the technology readiness level calculator. The SE Community of Practice is currently training editors to begin stand-up of sub areas of systems engineering. For more information, see the article "Building Communities of Practice" in the November-December 2002 issue of Program Manager, or go to <http://www.dau.mil/pubs/pm/ pmpdf02/Nov_Dec/bro-jf3.pdf>.

Risk Management--the Risk Management Community provides a resource for job performance support structured around risk management. Driessnack noted, "The [risk] community just finished pulling together experts in the field and produced a special edition of the Acquisition Review Quarterly journal (Spring 2003, Edition 33, (<http://www dau.mil/pubs/arqtoc.asp>). The edition has been a great success, with many requests coming in for additional copies. The community is currently tackling the various definitions used in risk management with the goal of producing a common standard. Our group got together on August 19 to outline the issues. The issues and a discussion thread can be found under the Risk CoP Community Connections. The results of our next meeting will likely evolve into a complete update to the DAU Risk Guide."

Facilities Engineering--the Facilities Engineering career field encompasses a variety of professional individuals with diverse skills focused on the design, construction, and life-cycle maintenance of military installations, facilities, civil works projects, airfields, roadways, and ocean facilities.

Value of Communities

The value and usefulness of communities of practice rely on active community participation and the accuracy, timeliness, accessibility, and applicability of community content.

"The value of the ACC is proven every day as more and more acquisition workers join and contribute their knowledge," said Leesa Lafferre-Thomas, assistant chief editor for ACC. "The ACC has more than doubled in size during the past six months, based almost solely on word-of-mouth recommendation among co-workers. We frequently see comments from new users about the benefits of communities of practice, and ACC in particular," she added. You can help to make CoPs successful by contributing your knowledge and providing insight, feedback, lessons learned, and best practices, as well as by spreading the word to help the community grow

CoPs--Future Plans

DAU is in the process of facilitating the establishment of communities of practice in all acquisition career field areas: total ownership cost, contractual incentives, software acquisition management, test and evaluation, financial management, business and cost estimating, information technology, earned value management, and manufacturing and quality To date, DAU has developed a CoP Implementation Guide to assist in establishing and nurturing communities of practice. The guide outlines the processes and critical roles needed to foster and sustain communities. Several career field communities are in the early stages of development and will eventually become part of the ACC. As DAU continues to build and evolve the ACC, look for other communities of practice to be part of the Acquisition Community Connection.

DAU and AKSS

DAU is working to provide products and services that foster and facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration throughout the Department of Defense and industry. To support the AT&L workforce, DAU has adopted a new total learning environment approach under a performance learning model (PLM). The model shifts focus from the traditional classroom environment of the 20th century to learning resources available 24/7. This transformation is being accomplished by means of robust distance learning and continuous learning (CL) curricula, performance support, rapid deployment training, and the establishment of communities of practice and collaborative knowledge areas centered on AT&L career fields and business processes. DAU is focused on becoming more closely aligned with supporting the workforce on a real time basis. Through performance support and CoPs, DAU's schoolhouse interaction with the workforce will increase and offer a source of support and expertise previously untapped.

"AKSS and the CoPs in the Acquisition Community Connection Web site are being developed to support the entire AT&L workforce--the government and industry teams working together to provide the weapons and support systems," said Hickok. "AKSS and its link to CoPs," he continued, "support all elements of DAU's PLM. AKSS and CoPs are the 'go-to' sites for detailed knowledge sources to support course curricula, both for online distance learning courses and those in the classroom." Hickok also emphasized that AKSS links to the DAU CL Center and the index of all CL modules. CL modules are contributed to applicable CoPs as "learning objects."

The overall assets in AKSS are available to support DAU's performance support (PS) and rapid deployment training (RDT) missions. Through DAU CoPs, PS and RDT resources are stored and shared. PS and RDT presentations and documents are contributed to applicable CoPs. AKSS and CoPs provide 24/7 resources for job performance support and informal continuous learning, and the mechanisms for DAU to share DAU resources in partnership with OSD, the Services, Defense Agencies, and industry.

Commenting on the importance of input from the AKSS users, Hechmer said, "We appreciate all of the feedback we have received to date. We are acting on that feedback to continue to improve this site and provide you with a true golden source of all acquisition-related content."

Final Thoughts

As the AKSS matures, and the buildup of communities evolves, so too will grow the richness of content and interaction associated with each community. The sharing environment created by AKSS and communities will provide the workforce with the capability to continuously evolve, refresh the AT&L knowledge-base to support new issues, overcome new challenges, and to foster an environment of continuous learning and innovation.

Essential Models Project

The AT&L Program Management Community of Practice (PM CoP) has established the "Essential Program Management Models and Enduring Principles Project: What Every Weapons Acquisition Program Manager Should Understand." The Essential Models Project (for short) is an effort to identify a relatively short list of what program managers (PMs) should read and understand to be successful. We are looking for papers that run the gamut of the weapons system acquisition disciplines. From leadership principles of empowerment of integrated product teams, to fly before you buy, to streamlined decision process, we are interested in those principles that have endured the test of time and are applicable across most programs. Models run from general business, such as the balanced score card and levers of control, to earned value, integrated product and process development and capability maturity models. Again, we are looking for those models that have endured the test of time and are applicable across most programs. What do you consider the essential and enduring?

There are many ways to categorize what one might see as essential models or enduring principles. A program office functional view listing by engineering, logistics, and financial management could be an approach. A view across product, processes, people, and politics is another. We are also looking for various overall frameworks in which to categorize the essential models and enduring principles. What is your program management framework?

The project through the PMCoP encourages your participation. At the Acquisition Community Connection Web page for the Essential Models Project (<http://acc.dau.mil/emp>) you can submit your opinion (by taking the survey) and/or start a discussion thread on the site.

Start

« Previous 1 2 3 4 Next »

If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in this article with hundreds of other Education & Distance Learning enthusiasts from around the world, please feel free to visit the discussion forums & post a message.

Discuss this article in the discussion forums now.

Popular Education & Distance Learning Discussions From The Past

Taber's Medical Cyclopedia for the PDA (1 posts)
by BW - Last post on: 07-31-03 05:41
Anyone interested in purcashing Taber's Medical Cyclopedia for the Palm Pilot OS should check out this website before buying from Skyscape. Go to: http://theskyscapehoax.tripod.com/ BW "Get busy living, or get busy dying." ... (Read More)

The distant past? (1 posts)
by Candice Kramer - Last post on: 12-01-03 12:14
Hello, all disted regulars and mavens! I hope you can help novice distance learners. I'm writing a regular column for PBSCampus aimed at adults considering online learning, and ask if you will share in a paragraph your memories of the reasons why and when you FIRST took an online course - and w... (Read More)

"Landmark publication(s)" necessary for vocational & adult education concerns. (6 posts)
by keeppostedbyposting - Last post on: 01-17-04 13:40
Two key books on education(a third book needed); What Diane Ravitch's book, 'Troubled Crusade' did for public schools, and Alan Bloom's book, 'Closing of the American Mind' did for colleges, a 'landmark publication' is necessary for vocational and adult education. What roles would Socratic... (Read More)

Re: Distance Learning? (1 posts)
by chris - Last post on: 07-31-03 21:24
In article , bohica65@yahoo.com says... > > Also, FWIW, I don't understand why there are some people here who see the > need to attack John Bear. I don't know Dr. Bear from Adam, but, I will say > that his books have been a valuable resource to me. Could it be jealousy? > "mommie1" wrote ... (Read More)

You must register before posting in the Education & Distance Learning discussion forums. It's free & only takes a few seconds. Please also remember that no advertising is allowed...
Enter The Forums Here