The Five Trees

Everything in Humfrid lives in one of five trees. Each tree answers a different question about your organization, and they cross-link so that a goal carries its evidence, a decision names the person who made it, and a customer request points back to who asked for it.

flowchart TD
  STR["Strategy Tree<br/>What &amp; why"]
  WIS["Wisdom Tree<br/>What we know"]
  PRD["Product Tree<br/>What we build"]
  PIN["People Tree (Internal)<br/>Who we are"]
  PEX["People Tree (External)<br/>Who we serve"]

  WIS -->|atoms support goals| STR
  WIS -->|attribution| PIN
  WIS -->|attribution| PEX
  STR -->|solutions map to| PRD

Strategy Tree

The Strategy Tree is the goal hierarchy. Every piece of work traces back to a goal, so you always know why a task exists, not just what it is. It runs from a single long-term vision down to the smallest unit of work:

VISION
  └── MISSION
        └── OBJECTIVE
              └── KEY_RESULT
                    └── OPPORTUNITY
                          └── SOLUTION
                                └── EPIC
                                      └── TASK

The hierarchy is strict. Each node must have a parent of the correct type — Humfrid rejects a TASK placed directly under an OBJECTIVE, so you create the OPPORTUNITY, SOLUTION, and EPIC first. For the full set of rules and code examples for building the tree, see How Humfrid works.

Wisdom Tree

The Wisdom Tree is the knowledge graph — a persistent, team-wide memory of what your organization knows. Where the Strategy Tree is a strict parent-child hierarchy, the Wisdom Tree is a network: each unit of knowledge is an atom, and atoms connect to each other through typed bonds.

There are four atom types, forming a chain from raw observation to distilled rule:

• DATA — a raw fact, metric, or observation. "NPS dropped 12 points in Q3."
• LEARNING — an insight synthesized from multiple data points. "Enterprise users churn when onboarding exceeds 2 weeks."
• DECISION — a committed choice and its rationale. "We will sunset the free tier in Q2."
• PRINCIPLE — a guiding belief that shapes future choices. "Always optimize for time-to-value over feature breadth."

Bonds carry meaning, not just association. A LEARNING DERIVES_FROM the DATA that prompted it; a new measurement SUPERSEDES an older one; a fresh result CONTRADICTS a standing assumption. Because the relationships are typed, the graph is queryable rather than just searchable.

Each atom also carries a voiceType that records the epistemic authority behind it — whether it was directly observed, believed, decided, or received from an outside source. For the full breakdown of atom types, voice types, bond types, and the conflict detection that keeps the graph accurate, see the Knowledge Graph guide.

Product Tree

The Product Tree describes what the product actually does, organized by domain. It is depth-based rather than fixed-level: a top product node contains features, features contain sub-features, and sub-features contain components.

Product
  └── Feature
        └── Sub-feature
              └── Component

Each node carries a domain (such as Core, Integrations, Platform, Analytics, or Admin) and a status (live, beta, building, planned, or deprecated), so the tree doubles as a current map of what exists and what is still on the way.

People Trees

Two trees track people. The internal People Tree is your org structure; the external People Tree is everyone outside it.

Internal

The internal tree nests teams and the people in them. A team can contain other teams, so it handles departments, squads, and individuals at any depth.

TEAM
  └── TEAM
        └── PERSON

A PERSON node carries a role and a seniority level. As people contribute atoms to the Wisdom Tree, Humfrid infers who the experts are on each topic — so "who knows about pricing?" becomes an answerable question rather than a guess.

External

The external tree groups outside stakeholders by relationship, then by the organization they belong to, then by the people within it.

RELATIONSHIP_TYPE   (CUSTOMER, COMPETITOR, PARTNER, ANALYST, OTHER)
  └── ENTITY        (a company or organization)
        └── TEAM    (a group within that entity)
              └── PERSON

This is where a customer, the company they work for, and the person you spoke to all live in one place — so a request or a quote can be attributed to exactly who said it.

How the Trees Cross-Link

The trees are separate structures, but they reference each other. The cross-links are what turn five lists into one connected model of the organization.

Why the Separation Matters

The trees could have been one big graph. Keeping them separate is what makes each one useful on its own:

• Different shapes for different jobs. The Strategy Tree needs a strict hierarchy so every task ladders up to a goal. The Wisdom Tree needs a many-to-many network so a single learning can support several decisions. Forcing them into one shape would break both.
• Knowledge outlives plans. An atom in the Wisdom Tree stays true after the goal that prompted it is finished. Decoupling knowledge from the strategy that used it means lessons survive re-planning, reorgs, and agent turnover.
• Attribution stays clean. People live in their own trees, so a person can be referenced by knowledge and by work without being tangled into either hierarchy.
• Conflicts are findable. Because knowledge and goals are distinct, Humfrid can compare them and flag where what you know contradicts what you're planning — something a single undifferentiated graph would hide.

To go deeper on the knowledge side, see the Knowledge Graph guide. To see how goals, tasks, and agents fit together, see How Humfrid works.