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Tree diagram

Parent-to-children hierarchies: goals, taxonomies, breakdowns, skill trees.

1 tree diagram example

Company OKR tree

Three objectives broken into the key results that move them.

A tree shows how the big goal decomposes. Connectors are orthogonal elbows, never diagonals, and only one leaf carries the accent: the key result the company is betting on this quarter.

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What is a tree diagram?

A tree diagram shows a hierarchy as a root node that branches into children, which branch again into their own children. Every node has exactly one parent, which is what separates a tree from a general network.

Read it from the root outward. Each level breaks the one above it into smaller parts, so a company goal splits into objectives and then into key results, or a category splits into subcategories.

When to use a tree diagram

  • Use it to break a goal into OKRs, a project into a work breakdown structure or a problem into sub-questions.
  • Use it for taxonomies and decision trees where each item belongs in exactly one place.
  • If items share dependencies or have more than one parent, use a dependency graph, because a tree will hide those links.

How to make a good tree diagram

  1. Keep siblings at the same level of detail, so one branch does not jump straight to tasks while another stays at themes.
  2. Aim for three to six children per node; more than that is usually a sign a level is missing.
  3. Use short noun phrases or outcomes as labels and keep the same grammar across a level.
  4. Highlight the branch that matters for the decision at hand instead of coloring every level differently.