Decision tree
A simple yes/no decision framework.
This is the classic task-triage tree: when something lands on your plate, two or three quick questions route it to exactly one of four actions — do it now, schedule it, delegate it, or block time for it today. It borrows from the Eisenhower matrix and the two-minute rule, but as a flowchart it becomes something a matrix can't be: a procedure you can follow without thinking.
That's the real value of drawing decisions as trees. The questions are cheap to answer in the moment, the outcomes are mutually exclusive, and the diagram ends every path in an action rather than another meeting.
When to use this template
- Personal task triage — pin it next to your inbox and run every incoming request through it instead of letting tasks pile up in an undifferentiated list.
- Team operating agreements — when a team agrees on shared triage questions, "should we drop everything for this?" stops being a debate and becomes a lookup.
- Documenting any binary policy — the skeleton works for incident severity, PR review routing, expense approvals, or anything else that reduces to a few yes/no gates.
How to adapt it
Swap the questions for the ones your decision actually hinges on, keeping each one binary and answerable in seconds:
- Replace "Is it urgent?" with a concrete trigger like "Is a customer blocked?" or "Is there a deadline this week?" so answers don't depend on mood.
- Add a cost gate such as "Will it take more than a day?" before the delegate branch if handoffs are expensive on your team.
- Extend leaf nodes with next steps — "Schedule it" can point to a concrete calendar ritual or backlog column.
In the editor you can drag question diamonds around and rewire branches directly; visual edits regenerate clean Mermaid code, so the tree stays easy to diff and share once you've shaped it.
Mermaid code
Copy it anywhere Mermaid is supported — GitHub, Notion, or your docs.
flowchart TD
A{Is it urgent?} -->|Yes| B{Can you do it in 15 min?}
A -->|No| C[Schedule it]
B -->|Yes| D[Do it now]
B -->|No| E{Can someone else do it?}
E -->|Yes| F[Delegate it]
E -->|No| G[Block time today]
Frequently asked questions
- What is a decision tree diagram?
- A decision tree is a flowchart where every diamond asks a yes/no question and every leaf is an action. You enter at the top with a situation — here, a new task landing on your plate — and the questions route you to exactly one outcome: do it, schedule it, delegate it, or block time for it. No ambiguity, no judgment calls mid-stream.
- How do I make a decision tree in Mermaid?
- Use a flowchart with curly-brace nodes for questions, square-bracket nodes for outcomes, and labeled edges for the answers. For example, A{Is it urgent?} -->|Yes| B creates a question diamond with a Yes branch. Keep each question binary; if you need three answers, split it into two stacked yes/no questions instead.
- What makes a good yes/no question in a decision framework?
- A good question is answerable in seconds without research, and the answer genuinely changes the outcome. 'Is it urgent?' works because urgency is felt immediately and routes tasks down completely different paths. Vague questions like 'Is it important?' stall the tree — replace them with concrete proxies like deadlines or who is asking.
- Can I use this triage tree for things other than task management?
- Absolutely. The same skeleton works for incident triage (is it customer-facing? can we roll back?), hiring decisions, feature requests, and support routing. Keep the shape — binary questions leading to a small set of clear actions — and swap the wording. Trees with more than four levels usually mean two decisions are tangled together.