Web Excursions 2022-01-13
PARA was a framework that would emerge over a need and over time.
Having experienced how too much structure early on could stifle more than scaffold, I was skeptical of systems that felt prescriptive and standardized to the point of being boilerplate.
“PARA on Paper.” — Building on the PARA framework, this activity challenges you to write down what you need to get done on a single page.
I usually limit this entire exercise to 10-20 minutes depending on the size of the group
When you only have a few minutes to list things down, you’re forced to let go of definitions and instinctively surface what’s top of mind—and often top priority.
On paper, you can easily scratch, scribble, and move things around with a single stroke.
Nothing is permanent, and therefore the pressure for perfection eases up.
It can also be sobering to see the extent of your current and upcoming commitments laid out flat,
unobstructed by dropdowns, folders, or backlinks, that might otherwise provide a false sense of prioritization and progress.
Paper as a medium doesn’t have to be prescriptive either.
Even a sticky note, napkin, or any no-frills text editor will do.
Question 1: What are you currently working on? What do you need to get done? - Suggested time: 5 minutes
There’s no right or wrong way to phrase each project, no rigid definition of what a “project” is, and no set number of projects you should aim to list.
Text is merely a placeholder for what you’ve always known, always wanted to do, but neglected to articulate.
Question 2: How would you group your projects based on common stakeholders, timelines, dependencies, or the amount of context shifting? Suggested time: 2-5 minutes
As you filter through your projects list with these questions, your Areas will emerge:
levels of context switching?
grouped together
shared timelines or dependencies
stakeholders in common?
routine versus one-off?
combined, relegated to a task within a project, delegated, or eliminated?
Areas aren’t so much defined in advance as they are discovered along the way.
Question 3: What information might you need to get the work done? What artifacts might you produce in the process? Suggested time: 3-5 minutes
information, tools, or resources
deliverables or artifacts
material you can repurpose
I only create a heading or folder for Resources once there’s actually a file to go in it.
Creativity and expression as an extension of knowledge management often get boxed into what generates the most noise
Question 4: What and where is everything else that is not a present priority? Suggested time: 1-5 minutes
anything and everything that isn’t a present priority and doesn’t fit the previous three categories goes into this separate folder.
It’s low-risk: your files aren’t deleted, just dormant—and high-reward
Adaptations for team knowledge management
I usually create this on a Google Doc or Sheet, but all of it can be scaled to more sophisticated project management tools.
If your team uses a shared drive, this setup can be mirrored across a folder system.
Knowledge management as a record of your discovery
The moment I realized I didn’t need PARA—or any organizational framework for that matter—in order to take action, was the moment I began to understand it.
My unremarkable epiphany about knowledge management throughout all of this is that it’s about subtle shifts in awareness.
Moving things from invisible to visible, private to public, and closed to collaborative.