Team Knowledge Management- How to Use PARA in Your Organization

Metadata

• URL: https://fortelabs.com/blog/team-knowledge-management-how-to-use-para-in-your-organization/
• Author: Forte Labs
• Publisher: Forte Labs Newsletter
• Published Date: 2023-03-13
• Tags:

Highlights

• Here are some ideas for how to do that: * Senior leadership can set an example by regularly sharing their most important ideas and decisions in writing * Staff at all levels can be encouraged to take the time to express their thinking in writing, and rewarded when they do * Feedback and coaching to direct reports can include direction to develop their ideas in writing * Memos and other writing can be requested, circulated, and referred to in meetings and phone calls as central items for discussion * Meetings can begin with “reading time” to emphasize that the context for discussions is best absorbed in document form * Use a standard term for an internal piece of writing (such as memo, proposal, one-pager, article, or thesis doc) * Decide on a standard template (such as a Google Doc or Notion page), default length (such as 1,000 words or 2 pages), and method of sharing (such as email or Slack) these internal documents
• quality of a piece of writing, for example: * Is it interesting and attention-grabbing? (Does it make people want to read it?) * Is it precise and clear? (Can people easily understand what it’s trying to say?) * Is it empathetic? (Is the writer seeing things from the reader’s point of view?) * Does it help people solve a problem? (Is it useful and effective, or merely interesting?) * Does it inspire people to take action? (Does it make it easy for people to apply it?)
• • What is our definition of a “project,” “area of responsibility,” “resource” and “archive”?
• What needs to happen when we kick off a new project
• • Who is responsible for maintaining the standard for each shared area of responsibility?
• • Who will be the “PARA Champion” who oversees its implementation and makes sure the guidelines are being followed?
• one-page “PARA Guide” for
• I recommend viewing the implementation of PARA in your team as primarily a training challenge,
• Only when a project or area becomes collaborative, with multiple people involved, should it be moved to shared Projects or Areas folders.

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