A method of autonomic organisation of network nodes is described. A first node is adapted to adopt a node role. The first node communicates with other network nodes over a stateless medium. The first node is provided with a pattern of complementary operations for operation between one node role and another node role. On adopting the node role in the network, the node interacts with a second node over the stateless medium according to the pattern of complementary operations between the node role of the first node and the node role of the second node. This approach may be used in autonomic networking. Suitable devices and software to implement this approach are described.