Lessons from the “Wood Wide Web”: Why project organisations should grow like forests

Walk any mature forest and you’ll notice something humbling: there’s no command post, no “CEO tree,” yet the system thrives. Trees communicate, trade resources, and coordinate growth through vast root–fungal networks nicknamed the wood wide web, which is a living infrastructure that helps forests adapt and endure. Wohlleben popularised these dynamics in The Hidden Life of Trees, describing how trees connect, warn, and support each other via mycorrhizal pathways, while research programs such as UBC’s Mother Tree Project have explored how belowground networks can influence regeneration and resilience.  

A path surrounded by trees in a forest.

As someone whose surname ends in tree, perhaps it’s no surprise I’m drawn to forests for management insight. But there’s more than poetry here. If the digital era is forcing organisations to decide faster, collaborate across boundaries, and absorb shocks, then nature’s oldest networks provide a practical blueprint. 

At PMLogic, our commitments such as Certified B Corp status and treeplanting initiatives keep us grounded in systems thinking and longterm impact. And reconnecting with nature doesn’t just feel good; evidence links it to better attention, lower stress, and even more cooperative behaviour which leaders can translate into stronger teams and better decisions.  

Two people holding a plant.

From hierarchies to ecosystems (and projects) 

Systems thinking:

Meadows reminds us that a system is more than its parts; it’s the interconnections and purpose that drive behaviour over time. Information flows, diversity, and feedback loops determine whether a system adapts or ossifies. When uncertainty spikes, hierarchical chains slow information; networks distribute sensing and response, much like a forest’s underground web.  

Ecosystem approach:

Forests function as living ecosystems with interdependencies and redundancy. When one patch suffers, others buffer the shock; diversity and multiple pathways stabilise the whole. That mirrors what resilient organisations need when markets or technologies shift abruptly.  

Biomimicry:

Biomimetic organisation design treats nature as model, measure, and mentor, moving beyond anthropocentric management toward structures that are adaptive, regenerative, and decentralised.  

Networked Design:

MIT Sloan calls it distributed leadership: networks of formal and informal leaders with autonomy to innovate and a shared mission to align efforts—an approach that spreads ideas faster than commandandcontrol. McKinsey similarly finds that flatter, agile models put decisions in the right hands and react faster to change.  

The Project Economy:

NietoRodriguez argues we’ve entered the Project Economy, where projects not operations are the primary engine of value. Organisations mobilise temporary, crossfunctional teams to deliver change at speed an operating model that looks a lot like a forest: fluid, adaptive, and interconnected.  

Team meeting

Four foresttoproject parallels (and what to do monday) 

1. Tree communication → team knowledge flow 

Forests transmit signals and share resources through mycorrhizal networks, forming a resilient communication and supply web underfoot. In projects, the equivalent is fast, horizontal knowledge flow: open channels across squads, product lines, and partners. In the Project Economy, this is nonnegotiable projects succeed by aligning purpose and information quickly. 

Practice: 

Daily “signal sharing”: 10–15 minute crossteam huddles where leaders surface weak signals (risks, client context, regulatory shifts) and route them to the right guild or squad. 

Shared nervous system: invest in collaboration infrastructure APIs, data fabrics, and communities of practice that make information visible by default. In systems terms, strengthen the information links that hold the system together.  

Trees in a forest

2. Forest resilience via interconnection → Organisational resilience via networks 

Interconnected forests recover better after disturbance; seedlings are more dependent on the network in harsher conditions, underscoring the resilience benefits of maintained connectivity. Meadows makes the principle clear: diversity and redundancy create stability; don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Projectdriven organisations that diversify portfolios and build redundancy into capability pools bounce back faster when priorities change.  

Practice: 

Design for redundancy (pairing, crosstraining, mirrored environments) so no critical knowledge sits with a single “hero.” 

Map the network, not just the org chart: use organisational network analysis to identify hubs and bottlenecks; strengthen weak ties before a crisis makes them critical. 

Team joining hands

3. Decentralised forest intelligence → Distributed decisionmaking 

There is no central controller in a forest. Intelligence is distributed: local actors sense and respond quickly, while the network shares context. Organisations that emulate this via distributed leadership innovate more quickly and align around shared purpose without waiting for permission. Agile, flatter structures also move faster by putting decision rights where the work happens. For projectdriven organisations, this translates into clear sponsorship and governance paired with empowered teams.  

Practice: 

Clarify decision rights: categorise decisions (big bets, crosscutting, delegated) and push reversible, lowerrisk calls to the edge with clear escalation paths.  

Architect the gameboard: leaders enable rather than direct curate shared goals, guardrails, and forums where network leaders coordinate and learn.  

Team at work

4. Root networks → Your collaboration & portfolio infrastructure 

The wood wide web is the forest’s circulatory and information system. In enterprise terms, it’s your integration layer (data, identity, messaging), your PMO / Transformation Office, and your practices (retros, showcases, discovery rituals). In Antonio’s framing, a projectdriven organisation needs a coherent portfolio backbone, clear sponsorship, prioritisation, and a shared “Project Canvas” language to reduce friction across the network. 

Practice: 

Treat comms and portfolio as critical infrastructure: measure “network health” (latency in decision cycles, crossfunctional participation, diversity of perspectives) the way site reliability engineering teams measure uptime. 

Run “root maintenance” sprints: allocate capacity each quarter to improve the connectors, taxonomies, knowledge graphs, shared templates and canvases that make collaboration effortless. (Small shifts in information flows can change system behaviour disproportionately.) 

Why this matters right now 

The digital era rewards speed and adaptability. Distributed models consistently beat rigid hierarchies by enabling rapid senseandrespond cycles and empowering people closest to the work. At the same time, leaders and teams perform better when they spend time in nature: two hours a week outdoors is associated with higher health and wellbeing; even brief “green” breaks sharpen attention and reduce stress, conditions under which complex, crossboundary decisions improve.  

This is more than metaphor at PMLogic. As a Certified BCorp, we’ve committed to social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency including measurable climate impact because sustainability and systems thinking belong in the same sentence as execution. 

B Corp logo with a forest background.

Bringing it together: Nature → Networks → Projects 

NietoRodriguez’s Project Economy gives executives a pragmatic operating model for the forestlike organisation: temporary, missiondriven teams, strong sponsorship, and a common language for prioritisation and value. Biomimicry explains why this works: life thrives through decentralisation, feedback, cooperation, and diversity. Systems thinking shows how to tune the flows, feedback, and purpose so the organisation learns faster than the environment changes.  

Team meeting

Closing thought  🌿

The takeaway I hope you’ll remember is simple: learning from nature isn’t a metaphorical flourish it’s a proven, timetested operating model. Forests thrive because they are networked, not hierarchical; they decentralise sensing and decisionmaking, share resources, and build redundancy into the system. In our project organisations, the same principles systems thinking, ecosystem design, biomimicry, and networked, projectdriven structures turn speed and resilience into everyday habits. If we architect our “wood wide web” with intention, we’ll not only move faster we’ll endure.  

Team of volunteers celebrating together.

We’d love to hear where your organisation already behaves like a forest and where it still behaves like a plantation. What would one “root maintenance” sprint unlock for you this quarter? 

Get in Touch

 References 

• Wohlleben, P. The Hidden Life of Trees (Black Inc overview). 

• Mother Tree Project (UBC): interconnected forests, mycorrhizal networks. 

• Meadows, D. Thinking in Systems: systems as elements, interconnections, purpose. 

• MIT Sloan: distributed leadership for nimble organizations. 

• McKinsey: flattening and clarifying decision rights accelerates decision quality and speed. 

• PMLogic sustainability & BCorp commitments. 

• APA Monitor: nature exposure improves attention, mood, cooperation. 

• Olaizola et al. (MDPI): biomimetic organizations—nature as model, measure, mentor. 

• NietoRodriguez, A.: The Project Economy (HBR; ANR site); ProjectDriven Organization; Project Canvas.