Sketch
A pad for mapping options
Draw the branches of a decision by hand before you write them down. Use the pad to sketch a decision tree, to place a first step on a page, or to cross out a stop rule you have decided to keep.
The pad
The drawing pad needs JavaScript. The controls described below are the ones it would offer, and the rest of this page reads without it.
Controls
The pad works with a mouse, a pen, a touch screen or a keyboard. The keyboard controls below move a visible cursor across the pad and lower or lift a virtual pen.
- Mouse, pen or touch. Press and drag to draw. On a touch screen, drawing does not scroll the page.
- Tab. Move onto the pad. The cursor appears when the pad has focus.
- Arrow keys move the cursor. Hold Shift to move it further.
- Space or Enter lowers the pen, so arrow keys draw. Press again to lift it. Escape also lifts it.
- E switches to erase. I switches back to ink.
- [ and ] make the brush smaller or larger.
- Ctrl or Command with Z undoes the last stroke or clear. The last twelve changes can be undone.
Ways to use it
Three sketches worth making
- Draw the first question as a box, then each answer as a branch. Stop when every branch ends in a step you could take this week.
- Circle the smallest version of the idea, and write its cost beside the circle in the same hand.
- Draw the stop rule as a line across a branch. If the line cannot be drawn cleanly, the rule is not yet specific enough.
Privacy
Nothing leaves this page
Strokes are kept in the memory of this page only. Nothing you draw is uploaded, saved to an account or shared. Reloading the page or leaving it clears the pad, so save any sketch you want to keep by taking a screenshot before you go.