quadrant

When to use

• Two numeric axes carry the analysis. Effort × impact, cost × value, probability × severity, reach × confidence. Both axes are continuous and the position on each genuinely matters — that's the argument quadrant is built to make.
• Categorical grouping clusters the dots. Items grouped under list headings (Strategic Bets, Quick Wins, Defer, Time Sinks) share a color, so the eye can read the cluster before the individual point. The grouping is editorial, not derived from coordinates.
• Six to twelve items. Below six the chart wastes the canvas — write it as prose. Past twelve the labels overlap and the quadrant becomes a constellation. Trim the long tail or break it across two slides.

When not to use

• Static categorical 2×2. If the quadrants are fixed labels (Important × Urgent, Build × Buy × Partner × Defer) and items are placed by category not coordinate, use matrix-2x2. quadrant is data-driven; matrix-2x2 is conceptual.
• Single axis matters. If one axis is decorative and only the other carries meaning, you have a ranking, not a scatter. Use progress for percent-complete or kpi for ranked metrics with status.
• Coordinates without an audience-shared scale. If 8, 80 requires a footnote to interpret, the slide doesn't pay off. Either label the axis units in the eyebrow (Effort 0–10 → Reach 0–100) or normalise to a familiar scale before authoring.

Common mistakes

• Under magic, expecting the group heading text to move an item into that quadrant. Placement is driven entirely by the item's x, y coordinate — the group heading is an editorial label only; an item whose coordinates don't fall in the region a heading like 'Leaders' implies still renders wherever its numbers place it.

Authoring

<!-- _class: quadrant -->

`Effort 0–10 → Reach 0–100`

## Where to put the next dollar, having spent the last one on a workshop.

Effort estimated in story-points; reach as percent of addressable teams.

- Strategic Bets
  - Scoring model v2 `3, 70`
  - Per-team calibration `5, 85`
- Quick Wins
  - Weekly signal brief `8, 80`
  - Snapshot exports `9, 55`
- Defer
  - Vendor scoping `2, 30`
  - Manual recalibration `1, 22`
- Time Sinks
  - Custom audit log UI `7, 18`
  - Bespoke board export `9, 28`

Slots

Data shape

• An item is ONE inline-code chip with comma-separated numbers — Label — x, y[, size] as ` 3, 70 or 3, 70, 2.4 under bubble — EXCEPT trail, which needs TWO chips ( 5, 60 3, 78 , from-position then to-position); splitting a non-trail` item's coordinates into two chips silently zeroes the second axis instead of erroring.
• The eyebrow isn't just a label — it SETS the axis domain when present (Effort 0–10 → Reach 0–100 fixes the scale instead of deriving it from the data), and threshold reads its own · targets X, Y suffix on the same eyebrow line to place the cutoff lines; omit either and the chart falls back to a data-derived scale / a midpoint threshold.

Anatomy

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  header                                 │
│         Quadrant chart heading          │
│                                         │
│    high ▲    ◆       ◆                  │
│         │ ◆    ●                        │
│         │       ●  ◆                    │
│         │  ●         ●                  │
│     low └──────────────►                │
│           low        high               │
│  footer                           1/19  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Variant decision rule

• default (no modifier) — Each item is a single, current position on the two axes — the plain scatter.
• bubble — A third numeric dimension (size, cost, headcount) should scale each point's radius, not just its x/y position.
• trail — Items have moved — the story is the delta from a prior position to now, shown as a dashed connector line between a faded before-dot and a solid after-dot.
• cohort — The categorical grouping itself, not the axes, is what the audience should color-scan first.
• threshold — Specific numeric cutoffs on each axis are the point — draws the actual threshold lines instead of leaving the quadrant split purely visual.
• magic — The four quadrants have established, named archetypes (Leaders/Challengers/Visionaries/Niche Players) worth labeling explicitly, Gartner-style.
• minimal — The quadrant tint fields, bubble fills, and cohort hull shading would distract — strips them to outlined points, while axis labels and threshold lines stay visible.

Variants

<!-- _class: quadrant bubble -->

`Effort 0–10 → Reach 0–100`

## bubble sizes each point by a third value.

- Strategic Bets
  - Scoring model v2 `3, 70, 2.4`
  - Per-team calibration `5, 85, 4.1`
- Quick Wins
  - Weekly signal brief `8, 80, 0.9`
  - Snapshot exports `9, 55, 0.6`
- Defer
  - Vendor scoping `2, 30, 0.4`
- Time Sinks
  - Custom audit log UI `7, 18, 1.3`

<!-- _class: quadrant trail -->

`Effort 0–10 → Reach 0–100`

## trail shows where each point moved from.

- Strategic Bets
  - Scoring model v2 `5, 60` `3, 78`
  - Per-team calibration `7, 70` `5, 88`
- Quick Wins
  - Snapshot exports `9, 45` `8, 62`
- Time Sinks
  - Custom audit log UI `6, 25` `7, 16`

<!-- _class: quadrant cohort -->

`Effort 0–10 → Reach 0–100`

## cohort colors the points by group.

- Strategic Bets
  - Scoring model v2 `3, 70`
  - Per-team calibration `5, 85`
- Quick Wins
  - Weekly signal brief `8, 80`
  - Snapshot exports `9, 55`
- Defer
  - Vendor scoping `2, 30`
  - Manual recalibration `1, 22`
- Time Sinks
  - Custom audit log UI `7, 18`
  - Bespoke board export `9, 28`

<!-- _class: quadrant threshold -->

`Effort 0–10 → Reach 0–100 · targets 5, 50`

## threshold draws the lines that matter.

- Strategic Bets
  - Scoring model v2 `3, 70`
  - Per-team calibration `5, 85`
- Quick Wins
  - Weekly signal brief `8, 80`
- Defer
  - Vendor scoping `2, 30`
- Time Sinks
  - Custom audit log UI `7, 18`

<!-- _class: quadrant magic -->

`Completeness of vision 0–100 → Ability to execute 0–100`

## magic names all four quadrants.

- Challengers
  - Productboard `30, 82`
- Leaders
  - Sprig + Log `85, 88`
  - Chorus `72, 76`
- Niche Players
  - Notion build-out `25, 28`
- Visionaries
  - Spreadsheet `82, 34`

<!-- _class: quadrant minimal -->

`Effort 0–10 → Reach 0–100`

## minimal strips the chart to its points.

- Strategic Bets
  - Scoring model v2 `3, 70`
  - Per-team calibration `5, 85`
- Quick Wins
  - Weekly signal brief `8, 80`
  - Snapshot exports `9, 55`
- Defer
  - Vendor scoping `2, 30`
- Time Sinks
  - Custom audit log UI `7, 18`

Related

• matrix-2x2the 2×2 is categorical, not coordinate-based
• radaritems rated across more than two criteria
• progresspercent-complete on a single axis
• piechartpart-to-whole, not bivariate position
• verdict-gridcomparing options against shared categorical criteria