PARA Part 8: Core Principles of Digital Organization

Over the past year, I’ve seen P.A.R.A. implementations of all shapes and sizes. I’ve seen them from every corner of the globe, in languages I don’t even recognize, in at least a dozen different programs, and both digital and physical forms.

Over that time, eight core principles seem to have emerged as fundamental features. Whether you’ve taken on the particularities of the system I’ve described in this series, adopting these principles will seriously upgrade your digital organization.

Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Organize by actionability
2. Organize opportunistically
3. Move quickly, touch lightly
4. Controlled randomness
5. Complex systems have to be grown, not made
6. Focus on outcomes
7. Fail gracefully
8. Shallow hierarchies