
Ask HN: Any accessible way to explain trees? - zemptime
I&#x27;ve run into this one over and over. There will be some part of some application where the world will be represented with a tree as the data structure. Think hierarchies of various kinds - org structures, product catalogs, workspace groupings, etc.<p>The fact it&#x27;s a tree is really important to the functionality the user wants, even if they don&#x27;t know how to think in terms of trees in an abstract way (&quot;you can roll up information from child orgs into their parent&#x27;s reporting&quot;).<p>The language around trees just doesn&#x27;t resonate and gets lost on people. This includes potential customers, sometimes project management, etc.<p>Have you ever come across a _really_ good way of describing trees? Or, in-context of requirements&#x2F;work material, a means of talking about this idea that didn&#x27;t cause people to lose focus?
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colesantiago
File directories, royal/family trees, animal kingdom trees are good starting
point.

