Small, potentially reusable units of discrete work produced in service of large deliverables.
“Intermediate Packets” is the term Tiago Forte uses for those small units of discrete work that people of all types of work produce when they work. He broadly categorizes them into 5 categories:
- Evergreen Notes - (like this one) can hold well-formed thoughts around a concept until the time is ripe for their use
- Outtakes - stuff you made for a project that wound up left on the cutting room floor
- Works-in-Process - documents, graphics, templates, plans you made during previous projects
- Final Deliverables - concrete pieces of work you made before, they could become components of future projects
- Documents from Others - Assets from anyone else, basically
Having a library of intermediate packets allows you to Build On Yourself and to not Start from Scratch. Plagiarize yourself wherever possible. That’s part of why I never copy/paste things directly into these notes.
Create Intermediate Packets wherever possible!