Community of Practice ("CoP")

" ... small group of people who've worked together over a period of time. Not a team, not a task force, not necessarily an authorized or identified group. They are peers in the execution of "real work." What holds them together is a common sense of purpose and a real need to know what each other knows."

• The term "Community of Practice" was coined by John Seely Brown of the Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) back in the 1980s.