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What is Untools?
Untools is a curated library of thinking tools and frameworks. Rather than a single method, it collects structured approaches for four broad jobs: solving problems, making decisions, understanding systems, and communicating clearly. Each tool gets a short explanation of what it is and when to reach for it.
What you'll find there
The collection is organized by purpose, so you can start from the situation you're in rather than from a tool name:
- Decision making — Eisenhower Matrix for prioritizing by importance and urgency, Decision matrix for weighing multiple factors, Impact-Effort Matrix, Hard choice model, Cynefin framework, OODA loop, Ladder of inference, Six Thinking Hats, Second-order thinking.
- Problem solving — Ishikawa Diagram for root causes, Issue trees, First principles, Inversion, Zwicky box, Abstraction laddering, Conflict Resolution Diagram, Productive Thinking Model.
- Systems thinking — Iceberg Model, Connection circles, Concept map, Balancing feedback loop.
- Communication — Minto Pyramid for structuring a message, Situation-Behavior-Impact for feedback.
Who it's for and how to use it
It suits people who face ambiguous, recurring thinking tasks: a manager deciding what to cut, a product team diagnosing why a launch underperformed, an analyst untangling a system with feedback loops. The value is in matching a tool to a situation, not in reading the whole list.
A practical next step: pick one live decision or problem you're facing this week, scan the category that fits, and apply a single framework end to end. For example, if you keep debating priorities, run the Eisenhower Matrix once and see whether it changes what you actually do.
Trade-offs
The site is an index, not a course. Entries are brief, so expect to do the thinking yourself and to look elsewhere for deep practice. With dozens of tools, the risk is tool-shopping instead of deciding — choose one, use it, and only then try another. For deeper treatment of specific frameworks, general references such as Wikipedia can help, but the site's own short formats are best treated as starting points.
Which thinking tool should I use for making a difficult decision?
For a difficult decision, start with the Hard Choice Model to diagnose what kind of decision you're facing, then pick a tool that matches. Untools groups its collection under Decision making, Problem solving, Systems thinking, and Communication, and the decision-making tools are the most directly relevant.
Match the tool to the difficulty
| If your difficulty is... | Try | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| You can't tell what kind of decision this is | Hard Choice Model | Clarifies whether it's a genuine trade-off or a no-brainer |
| You're torn between perspectives | Six Thinking Hats | Forces you to examine the choice from different angles |
| You're weighing many factors | Decision matrix | Compares options against multiple criteria |
| You're stuck in the short term | Second-order thinking | Pushes you to consider long-term consequences |
| You're jumping to conclusions | Ladder of inference | Separates observation from assumption |
| You need to act with incomplete data | OODA loop | Supports faster decisions under uncertainty |
| You need to prioritise after deciding | Eisenhower Matrix, Impact-Effort Matrix | Sorts actions by urgency, importance, or effort |
A practical sequence
- Diagnose. Use the Hard Choice Model to check whether this is a real dilemma (both options cost you something) or a decision you're overcomplicating.
- Widen the frame. Run Six Thinking Hats or Second-order thinking so you're not deciding from a single mood or moment.
- Compare. If options are concrete, put them in a Decision matrix and score them against the factors that matter.
- Commit and schedule. Move the outcome into an Eisenhower Matrix so the decision turns into action rather than more deliberation.
When this approach fits
This works well for personal and work decisions with a handful of options and real trade-offs — a job offer, a project to kill, a vendor to choose. It's less suited to decisions that are purely emotional or that need expert input you don't have; a framework structures your thinking, it doesn't supply missing information.
If you want a second reference point on decision-making under uncertainty, Farnam Street covers related mental models, though Untools' advantage is that each tool is presented compactly and grouped by the type of thinking it supports.
How can I use Untools to find the root cause of a recurring problem?
Untools is a curated library of thinking frameworks, so the practical way to use it for a recurring problem is to treat it as a menu: pick one or two structures that match the kind of problem you have, then work through them on paper with your team.
For root-cause work specifically, the most relevant entries are:
- Ishikawa Diagram — a cause-and-effect structure that sorts contributing factors into categories, useful when a problem has many possible causes and you want to avoid fixating on the first one.
- Iceberg Model — pushes you from the visible event down to patterns, underlying structures and mental models, which suits problems that keep returning because nothing structural has changed.
- Abstraction laddering — helps you reframe the problem at a different level, so you can decide whether you are solving the right question at all.
- Ladder of inference — useful for checking whether your diagnosis is based on observed data or on assumptions you have jumped to.
- Connection circles and Balancing feedback loop — for recurring problems that are actually self-correcting or reinforcing dynamics in a system rather than a single faulty step.
A concrete way to run this
Suppose a support team keeps missing response targets every few weeks. Start with the Ishikawa Diagram to list candidate causes across people, process, tooling and demand. Then use the Iceberg Model to ask whether the misses are an event, a recurring pattern, or a structural issue such as staffing that never matches peak load. If the team disagrees about the cause, run the Ladder of Inference on the disagreement itself — people often hold different conclusions because they selected different data.
How to choose between them
| If your problem looks like… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Many possible causes, unclear which matters | Ishikawa Diagram |
| Keeps coming back after each fix | Iceberg Model |
| You may be solving the wrong question | Abstraction laddering |
| Team disagrees on the diagnosis | Ladder of Inference |
| Causes seem to feed each other | Connection circles |
Next step: pick the single recurring problem that costs you the most, write the visible symptom at the top of a page, and spend 20 minutes filling in an Ishikawa Diagram before you discuss solutions. If the same causes appear again after your fix, move to the Iceberg Model and look for the structure underneath. Untools itself is at Untools.
What is the Eisenhower Matrix and how does it help prioritize tasks?
The Eisenhower Matrix is a decision-making tool that sorts tasks into a two-by-two grid based on importance and urgency. On Untools, it appears under the Decision Making category with the summary "Prioritize your actions and tasks by importance and urgency."
The four quadrants lead to four different actions:
- Important and urgent: Do these now. Crises, deadlines and pressing problems live here.
- Important but not urgent: Schedule these. Planning, learning, relationship building and prevention work belong here, and this is where long-term progress is made.
- Urgent but not important: Delegate or minimise these. Many interruptions, some meetings and other people's emergencies fall here.
- Neither important nor urgent: Drop these. Busywork and low-value distractions accumulate here.
Why it helps
Most to-do lists are flat, so everything feels equally pressing. The matrix forces two separate judgments — does this matter, and does it need attention now? — which makes trade-offs visible. It is especially useful when you have more tasks than time and need to decide what to do first, what to hand off, and what to stop doing altogether.
A practical next step: list everything currently on your plate, then place each item in one quadrant before deciding anything. If you are unsure whether something is important, ask what happens if it never gets done. If you are unsure whether it is urgent, ask whether the deadline is real or self-imposed.
Trade-offs and alternatives
The matrix is quick to learn and needs no software, but it can oversimplify. Importance is often subjective, and genuinely urgent tasks can crowd out the important-but-not-urgent work that prevents future crises. If you need to weigh several factors rather than two, a decision matrix on the same site may fit better; if you want to compare impact against effort instead, look at the Impact-Effort Matrix. The broader collection at Untools groups these alongside systems thinking, problem solving and communication tools, so you can pick the framework that matches the decision in front of you.
How does second-order thinking differ from first-order thinking in decision making?
Second-order thinking asks what happens after the immediate result, while first-order thinking stops at the immediate result. In decision making, first-order thinking evaluates an option by its direct, near-term effect. Second-order thinking then asks: and then what? What are the delayed effects, the reactions of other people, the knock-on consequences, and the costs that only show up later?
Untools lists Second-order thinking under decision making, described as considering the long-term consequences of your decisions. That framing is the key distinction: it is not a separate decision method so much as an added layer of questioning applied to a decision you are already considering. First-order thinking is fast and often adequate; second-order thinking is slower and matters most when effects compound over time or when other people will respond to your choice.
What the difference looks like in practice
| First-order thinking | Second-order thinking | |
|---|---|---|
| Question asked | What happens if I do this? | And then what happens? |
| Time horizon | Immediate or near-term | Later consequences and knock-on effects |
| Typical use | Reversible, low-stakes, routine choices | Irreversible, high-stakes, or system-wide choices |
| Main risk | Missing delayed costs and reactions | Overthinking small decisions; analysis paralysis |
| Cost | Low effort | More time and mental energy |
A concrete example: a team cuts a feature to ship sooner. First-order: the release date moves up. Second-order: customers who relied on that feature complain, support load rises, and the team spends the saved time handling fallout. The first-order answer was correct and still incomplete.
How to apply it
Run a short chain of questions before committing:
- If I choose this, what happens immediately?
- Then what happens — to me, to others, and to the system around me?
- Who will react to my choice, and how will that change the situation?
- Which of these later effects would be expensive or hard to reverse?
Use it selectively. Reserve the longer chain for decisions that are costly to undo, affect other people who can respond, or play out over months. For routine, reversible choices, first-order thinking is usually the better trade-off.
Untools places second-order thinking alongside other decision-making tools such as the Eisenhower Matrix for prioritisation and the Hard Choice Model for identifying what kind of decision you face; combining them can help you decide whether a choice deserves second-order analysis before you spend time on it. You can browse the collection at Untools.
Can Untools help me improve my communication and feedback skills?
Yes. Untools includes several frameworks aimed directly at communication and feedback, plus adjacent decision-making tools that help you choose what to say and when.
Directly relevant tools on the site
- Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) — filed under Communication; described as giving clearer feedback without judgement. Useful when you need to raise a sensitive issue: state the situation, the specific behaviour, and its impact, rather than characterising the person.
- Minto Pyramid — filed under Communication; described as making communication more efficient and clear. Useful for writing updates, proposals or emails where the recommendation should come first and the reasoning after.
- Ladder of inference — filed under Decision making; described as avoiding jumping to conclusions and basing decisions on reality. In practice this is a feedback tool too: it separates what you observed from the assumptions you layered on top.
What that looks like in use
Suppose a colleague keeps missing agreed handover notes. Instead of "you're unreliable", SBI pushes you toward: in yesterday's handover (situation), the notes arrived after the shift started (behaviour), so the incoming team re-asked the same questions (impact). The Minto Pyramid helps if you then need to escalate or propose a fix — lead with the ask, not the chronology.
Trade-offs and limits
Untools is a curated reference, not a course. Each entry is a short explainer, so you get the structure and the reasoning, but not guided practice, scripts tailored to your workplace, or feedback on how you delivered it. The communication section is also the smallest cluster on the page — most entries sit under decision making, problem solving and systems thinking. If your goal is mainly interpersonal skills, you will be borrowing tools designed for analysis.
A practical next step
Pick one recurring conversation you find hard — a peer who interrupts, a manager you update weekly — and run it through SBI once before the next occurrence. If the structure feels too rigid for the relationship, the ladder of inference is a gentler alternative: it changes your own reading of the situation before you speak.
For broader communication training rather than frameworks, MindTools covers similar ground, and The Decision Lab explains the behavioural research behind several of these models.
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