[mherdeg]

Why do things so often break down so intelligibly into these 2x2 matrices? Like the "urgent vs important" one? Is there a word for this phenomenon?

Are people primed / wired to more readily understand things when they're explained in a "two tribes" way?

[metalrain]

I think you could choose many other two properties and they would still make sense.

We all know it's simplification and it's easy to read so it looks intelligent, albeit incomplete.

For example I make 2x2 matrix of growing roses where axis are: amount of water and amount of sunlight, seems reasonable but we know that there are many other variables at play: soil, atmosphere, solar cycle, temperature, fungal growth etc.

I could make NxM matrix of all known variables, but it would be quite intimidating.