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Clear the small decisions, two minutes at a time.

The Triage Board takes the decisions piling up this week, one card each. Answer four quick questions and it suggests a lane: act now, run a small test, gather evidence or decline. Tests and checks get a date, so nothing sits undecided for long.

Open the board See how it decides
  • 4 lanes
  • 4 taps a card
  • Free, no account

How it goes

Most cards take under a minute. A two-minute sprint is enough for a week’s worth.

  • Empty your head

    Type each decision on its own line, or paste a list. Everything lands in the inbox, so writing it down and deciding it stay separate steps, as in David Allen’s inbox.

  • Four taps a card

    Answer the four questions with the keys 1 to 3, or tap. The board suggests a lane and says why; press Enter to take it, or the lane’s letter to choose another.

  • Make the call on time

    A test gets a date to decide by, a missing fact a date to check by. When a date comes up, the card rises to the top with three buttons: act, decline or more time.

How it picks a lane

Four questions, each from someone who has written well about deciding, and each a second to answer. The board then reads these 11 rules from the top and uses the first that fits. A question a rule leaves out can have any answer. The suggestion is only that; any card can go in any lane.

From the inbox1 of 2

Renew the gym membership for a year?

  1. If it goes wrong, can you undo it?

    • Easily
    • At a cost (this card’s answer)
    • Can’t

    From Jeff Bezos’s one-way and two-way doors.

  2. Will it matter a year from now?

    • Not at all
    • A little (this card’s answer)
    • A lot

    From Annie Duke’s happiness test.

  3. Do you want it?

    • Clear yes
    • Maybe (this card’s answer)
    • Not really

    From Derek Sivers’s “Hell yeah or no”.

  4. Do you know enough to decide?

    • Enough (this card’s answer)
    • Missing one fact
    • Guessing

    From The Heath brothers’ “reality-test your assumptions”.

Suggested Run a small test

Not a clear yes. A small test will tell you more than more thinking.

File in Run a small test Enter

Or file it in AAct now EGather evidence DDecline

These answers go past rules 1 to 9, which each need something this card does not have, and stop at rule 10.

RuleWhenLaneWhy
1 Pull: Not really · In a year: Not at all or A little Decline You don’t want it, and it won’t matter much in a year. Say no and move on.
2 Pull: Not really · In a year: A lot Gather evidence You don’t want it, but it matters. Find out what saying no would cost before you do.
3 In a year: Not at all · Undo: Easily or At a cost Act now It won’t matter in a year, so the deciding costs more than a wrong pick would. Pick one and go.
4 Undo: Easily · Know: Guessing Run a small test Easy to undo, and you’re guessing. A small try is the cheapest way to find out.
5 Undo: Easily · Pull: Clear yes Act now Easy to undo, and you want it. Go; you can walk back through the door if it’s wrong.
6 Know: Guessing Gather evidence It matters and you’re guessing. Find the one fact that would change your mind.
7 Undo: Can’t · Know: Missing one fact Gather evidence You can’t undo it, and one fact is missing. Get it before anything else.
8 Undo: Can’t Run a small test You can’t undo it. Try the smallest version you can before you commit.
9 Know: Missing one fact Gather evidence One fact stands between you and the call. Get it, then decide.
10 Pull: MaybeThe card above stops here Run a small test Not a clear yes. A small test will tell you more than more thinking.
11 Anything else Act now You want it and you know enough. Commit, and decide now what would make you change course.

Four lanes, each with a next step

A lane is not a verdict to file away. Each one asks for the next thing to write down.

  • Act now ANo date

    Decided. Write the first move, and make it.

    • First move: What you’ll do first, today if you can
  • Run a small test T7 days to decide

    Try a small, cheap version, and decide on what happens.

    • The test: The smallest version you could try
    • Keep going if: What you’d need to see
  • Gather evidence E3 days to check

    One fact would settle it. Name it, find it by a date, then decide.

    • The one fact: What would change your mind
  • Decline DNo date

    A clear no keeps the time for your yeses. Write how you’ll say it.

    • How I’ll say no: One line, kind and clear
    • Reconsider if: Optional. What would change your mind

Start from an example

Each opens the board already sorted, with a card or two left in the inbox to try. Your own board stays one Undo away.

When a card needs more than two minutes

Some decisions should be slow. The board says which, and hands them on.

  • Hard to undo, and it matters

    A card you can’t undo that will matter a lot in a year, like a move, a hire or a large purchase, is marked on the board. Bezos’s advice is to slow down for exactly these and move fast on the rest.

  • The Thinking Desk

    One click takes the card to the Mental Model Explorer, a desk for looking at one decision through several mental models. The question and how hard it is to undo go with it; nothing else does.

Open the Thinking Desk

Your decisions stay yours

What you are deciding is private, so the board keeps it close.

  • Where it is kept

    In this browser, saved as you go. If you are signed in, the board also follows your account to your other devices. Nothing is shown to anyone else, and you can copy the whole board as text at any time.

  • What it is not

    This is a thinking aid, not professional advice, especially for financial, legal, or medical decisions. The board sorts your own answers; it doesn’t know your situation.

  • Pressure-test your style

    Sorted the week? Play the Decision Simulator to see how your choices shift when a story puts you under pressure.

What it is built on

Five sources, used for what they say and no more.

  • One-way and two-way doors Jeff Bezos, 2015 Letter to Amazon Shareholders

    Bezos splits decisions into those that are hard to reverse, which deserve care, and those you can walk back through, which a person or small group should make quickly. The first question and the Thinking Desk handoff come from here.

  • The happiness test Annie Duke, How to Decide, 2020

    If a choice won’t much affect your happiness in a year, the time spent deciding costs more than picking wrong. Duke uses it to decide when to go fast. The second question asks it.

  • Hell yeah or no Derek Sivers, “No more yes. It’s either HELL YEAH! or no.”, 2009

    Sivers argues that anything short of an eager yes should be a no, to keep room for the things that are. The third question, and why a “not really” on something minor goes straight to decline.

  • Ooching and tripwires Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Decisive, 2013

    The Heaths suggest testing an assumption with a small trial before committing, which they call ooching, and setting a tripwire, a moment fixed in advance to look again. The test lane and its dates are both.

  • The inbox David Allen, Getting Things Done, 2001

    Capture everything first, then go through the inbox one item at a time and decide what each one is. The board’s inbox and its quick add follow that order.

Questions

  • What is the Triage Board?

    A board for the small decisions that pile up in a week. You write each one on a card, answer four quick questions about it, and the board suggests one of four lanes, act now, run a small test, gather evidence or decline. Most cards take under a minute, and the board keeps them until they are done.

  • How does it pick a lane?

    It reads your four answers against a short list of rules, in order, and uses the first that fits. Something you don’t want goes to decline; something that won’t matter in a year goes to act now; a guess on something that matters goes to gather evidence; a maybe goes to a small test. The full list is on this page, and the board always says which rule it used. You can put any card in any lane.

  • Why these four questions?

    Each comes from someone who has written about deciding well. Jeff Bezos separated decisions you can undo from ones you can’t. Annie Duke asks whether a choice will matter in a year, because if not, the time spent deciding is the bigger cost. Derek Sivers argues that anything short of a clear yes should usually be a no. And Chip and Dan Heath suggest testing an assumption before betting on it.

  • What is a small test?

    A cheap, short version of the decision that tells you something real, such as a lightning talk before a full talk or two runs before a season fee. The Heaths call it ooching. Each test card asks what you would need to see to keep going, and a date to decide by, so a test can’t drift into a decision nobody made.

  • What happens when a test or check date comes up?

    The card moves to the top of the board under “Due for a call”, with three buttons, act, decline or give it more time. A date is a tripwire, a moment set in advance to look again, so the card doesn’t sit in a lane forever.

  • When should I use the Thinking Desk instead?

    When a decision is hard to undo and will matter for years, like a move, a hire or a large purchase. The board marks those cards and offers to send them to the Thinking Desk, where you look at one decision through several mental models. The question and how hard it is to undo go with it.

  • Is this advice?

    No. The board asks questions and sorts your answers; it does not know your situation and does not tell you what is right. For a decision with legal, medical or financial consequences, talk to someone qualified as well.

  • Where are my decisions saved?

    In this browser, as you go, and nowhere else unless you are signed in, in which case the board is also saved to your account so it follows you to another device. You can copy the board as text at any time.

Books for better judgment

Decisive Thinking in Bets Getting Things Done Essentialism Thinking, Fast and Slow $100M Offers A Thousand Brains Inversion guide Dichotomy of Control guide

Put this week’s decisions on the board

Start a two-minute sprint and see how many you can sort. The board keeps the rest, with their dates, for next time.

Open the board

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