Times to use the affinity diagram include: When the consensus of a group is required. Use an affinity diagram to gather large numbers of brainstorming ideas and put them into logical groups. Labeled each final grouping with a header identifying the general topic that all items in the group share. This template shows a sample affinity diagram, demonstrating how ideas might be categorized in response to problem that needs to be addressed. They can sort out uncertain, disorganized or overwhelming observations about a process, and they inspire participation and support from a group, rather than applying a solution handed down from higher levels of management. Present your analysis to others in the company in an easy-to-understand manner. These themes are referred to as affinity sets or affinity groups. Tips: Header cards should clearly identify the common thread for all groupings and should be descriptive of that thread. Share them with our readers in the comment section below. And you can add different colors to help different categories stand out. How to use affinity diagram. The Affinity Diagram is a tool used in business planning to organize ideas and thoughts into related categories. You can discuss the shape of the chart, any surprising patterns, and especially reasons for moving controversial notes. Also known as the K-J method, affinity chart, and affinity mapping, an affinity diagram is a tool that is used to organize data gathered from a brainstorming session, research, meeting, etc. Ltd 2020 | All rights reserved. After generating ideas, group them according to their affinity, or similarity. Quickly get a head-start when creating your own affinity diagram. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics. The group identified four main categories: training, paperwork, regulatory, and technology. Attached all of the cards to the wall, grouping similar ideas together. 368. Team members should talk with each other as they arrange the ideas. This idea creation method taps a team’s creativity and intuition. Use it to generate, organize, and consolidate information related to a product, process, complex issue, or problem. An affinity diagram, above all, stimulates discussion about a problem or issue, opening up possibilities for improvement or solution. The term “saturate” relates to the method in which everyone covers or saturates the “space” with images an… Affinity diagrams are ideal for sorting large amounts of data or long lists of ideas into related groups. Creately has multiple pre-drawn affinity diagram templates that you can easily edit to fit your needs. With members and customers in over 130 countries, ASQ brings together the people, ideas and tools that make our world work better. Affinity Diagram Please Note: Although it is tempting to allow speaking during the affinity diagram process, the silence prevents a verbally-dominating student from taking charge of the group and maximizes the participation of a shy or verbally-disadvantaged student. If data needs to be collected then have a data collection plan and sampling methodology and strategies identified. This template shows a sample affinity diagram, demonstrating how ideas might be categorized in response to problem that needs to be addressed. The key to using this tool is by organizing these scattered ideas by their running themes, patterns, or categories. This way you can collect different and useful insight, opinions and perspectives to help arrive at faster solutions or better innovations. It’s also a way for team members to share ideas and findings. The process also highlights areas of deficiency. In this quick guide, we’ll describe what is an affinity diagram, its many uses, and how to create one. Each idea was categorized under these general areas. The affinity diagram can be a useful tool whether you are brainstorming ideas, sorting through research data, improving a process or solving a problem. Organize team thoughts and ideas. Step 4: Polish off your affinity diagram. Affinity diagram templates are broadly used in brainstorming procedures to reach at a productive and favorable idea or decision based on multiple similar ideas. Got more tips on drawing affinity diagrams? The affinity diagram process lets a group move beyond its habitual thinking and preconceived categories. Develop innovative solutions. Example: Problem with Prescription Delivery When problems are too complex and extensive to comprehend. Directions: An affinity diagram is a visual tool that organizes ideas by themes often used in brainstorming sessions to determine both root causes and potential solutions for a problem. When ideas are grouped to the team’s satisfaction, select a heading for each group. Tip: Stating the problem in the form of a question (“What are the barriers to on-time delivery of medications?”) can often prove useful. Affinity Diagram The Affinity Diagram, also known as a KJ diagram, is a business tool invented for organization the large quantity of ideas and data. The focus should be on looking for and grouping related ideas. This process of creating affinity diagrams is known as affinity mapping. Don’t rely on the opinion of another when you are moving cards, do it at your own will, without talking. ASQ celebrates the unique perspectives of our community of members, staff and those served by our society. Benefits of sorting after each session are that: It helps the team gain a shared understanding after each user. An affinity diagram is a diagram constructed out of a large set of ideas or opinions by grouping together similar or related ideas into logical groups. Figure 1 Brainstorming for Affinity Diagram Example. Review the ideas while looking for similarities or whether they are related to each other in some way. What is Affinity Diagramming? It is the organized output from a brainstorming session. Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. The Affinity Diagram is a method which can help you gather large amounts of data and organise them into groups or themes based on their relationships. It is the organized output from a brainstorming session. Why should you use it? If there is no such note, write one. The following example comes from a hospital setting. Silent recording—Each person writes responses on 3" x 5" cards or sticky notes, one idea per card, until all team members have exhausted their store of ideas. When there are many ideas or facts in disarray. Reviewed final groupings and headers. By grouping these ideas, you are making it easier for you brain to process information. However, if you come across ideas that don’t fit into any of the categories, you can place them on their own. under meaningful categories that are based on common relationships or themes. With regular pens, it is hard to read ideas from any distance. Affinity diagrams rely on Post-It notes to create the visual map. The Affinity Diagram, also known as a KJ diagram, is a business tool invented for organization the large quantity of ideas and data. It allows a broad range of ideas to be organized so they can be more effectively analyzed. It is also important to call these “groupings.” Do not place the notes in any order or determine categories or headings in advance. The Affinity Diagram T he Affinity Diagram is the simplest way to organize field data. Teams use affinity diagrams as a way to see data come to life, and physically moving the data around helps immerse the team in it even more. The affinity diagram uses a more organized technique to gather facts and ideas to form developed pattern of thoughts. Affinity diagram Use an affinity diagram to gather large numbers of brainstorming ideas and put them into logical groups. The affinity diagram is a business tool used to organize ideas and data. Adapted from The Quality Toolbox, Second Edition, ASQ Quality Press. Tip: After posting all ideas the first time, fine-tune the groupings by moving cards from one pile to another to reflect closer ties. This is where an Affinity Diagram comes in (also known as an affinity chart or K-J method after its founder Kawakita Jiro). It is also okays to move a note someone else has already moved. If you can discover relationships between separate groups, you can categorize them under a superheaders. Orientation does not cover office hour access times, Classes specific to our company are too infrequently offered, Applications needed for each job are different, Requirements for a laptop need to be identified, Badges need access levels established prior to start, When you are confronted with many facts or ideas in apparent chaos, When issues seem too large and complex to grasp, When collecting and organizing large data sets, When developing relationships or themes among ideas, When reducing attributes to categories that can be addressed at a higher level. What is an affinity diagram? You’ll see that the four basic steps are: Brainstorm … all ideas are good. Affinity diagrams are also a great way to discover novel connections between various different components of a project. Being one of the Seven Management and Planning Tools, the affinity diagram is commonly used in project management to organize, analyze and prioritize ideas and tasks. For example, the team posted together all topics that suggested that the pharmacy may be understaffed. You can use affinity diagrams to: Organize the results of a brainstorming session. It is a visual map that organizes ideas into categorized clusters after the initial brainstorming. The Affinity shows the scope of the problem: it reveals in one place all Agreed on a statement of the issue or problem. Here’s a One-Sheet, Quick Reference Guide on the Affinity Diagram you can download with the directions. Quality Glossary Definition: Affinity diagram, Also called: affinity chart, affinity mapping, K-J Method, thematic analysis. The placement of the cards doesn’t have to make sense, keep them at random. With the smart floating action buttons and handles, you can change item numbers and shape size easily at will. To review, in an analysis spreadsheet, each participant is listed in a column and each row can describe task performance, answers to a question, common problems experienced, or themes observed. Online Affinity Diagram mapping process. Mediate professional conflict. Generate useful discussions that will lead to innovation/ effective solutions etc. It can also give us a sense of where most people’s thinking is focused. The affinity diagram organizes a large number of ideas into their natural relationships. Example of Affinity Diagram Template Place it at the top of the group. An Affinity Diagram is a graphic tool designed to help organize loose, unstructured ideas generated in brainstorming or problem solving meetings and gathers large amounts of language data (ideas, opinions, issues) and organizes them into groupings based on their natural relationships. The method is reported to have been developed by Jiro Kawakita and so is sometimes referred to as the K-J method. The team can now use a interrelationship diagram, for example, or even a cause-and-effect diagram to get to root causes for late medications. Company SQBOK can now track these four areas and assign them to the appropriate groups for resolution. The History of Affinity Diagrams We’re included some photos of affinity diagrams that’s conducted for our clients. Use plus create to add the next shape, and preset color themes to style your diagrams. Affinity diagrams are ideal for sorting large amounts of data or long lists of ideas into related groups. We hope the templates we have added here will help you get a headstart. It gets used to create, systematize, and unify information related to a problem, product, complex issue, or process. It arranges the notes from Interpretation Sessions into a hier-archy that reveals common issues and themes across all users. Traditional brainstorming—In order around the group, each person writes an idea or response to the question on a 3” x 5” card while announcing the content of the card to the group. The team can now use a relations diagram, for example, or even a cause-and-effect (fishbone) diagram to get to root causes for late medications. It also can be used to. This document is used with the unit "Proto-ZOO-ology: A problem-based protist inquiry unit." 355. An affinity diagram is the organized output from a brainstorming session. A team of hiring managers, new employees, human resource managers, and peer employees conducted a brainstorming session and identified 15 problems. Sort (Silently). An affinity diagram is an excellent creativity and productivity tool – so long as you know how to use one effectively. This technique accesses the great knowledge and understanding residing untapped in our intuition. Node Fishbone Diagram. Next step would be to check if data is availble and how it is collected. People have been grouping data into groups based on natural relationships for thousands of years; however, the term affinity diagram was devised by Jiro Kawakita in the 1960s and is sometimes referred to as the KJ Method. If you wish to share it with others outside your team, send them a view or edit link, or you can export them as SVGs or in several image formats and add them to company wikis, websites, presentations or documents. When can you use it? Visual Guide to Improving Organizational Performance, The Ultimate Guide to Concept Maps: From Its Origin to Concept Map Best Practices, Everything You Need to Know about Strategy Mapping, Visual Tools to Use While Conducting Experiments, Fun Virtual Christmas Party Ideas Perfect for Remote Teams, Ending the Year on a High: G2 Crowd Names Creately a Leader in the Diagramming Category, How to Visualize A Customer-Centric Strategy, The Best Ideation Techniques for Remote Teams, How to Effectively Manage Your Time While Working Remotely, How to Write a Business Project Proposal that Gets Approved, Find creative solutions to difficult problems by involving people from diverse fields, Sort through large volumes of confusing data and quickly organizing them in a logical, easy-to-understand manner, Encourage the participation of everyone involved, which leads to uncovering new patterns of thinking and unique solutions. T he Affinity Diagram is the simplest way to organize field data. 69970 . The Affinity Diagram tool is used to consolidate a large amount of information into groupings or clusters of ideas that have a natural 'affinity', i.e., that have a common thread running through them. It gets used to create, systematize, and unify information related to a problem, product, complex issue, or process. A separate group charged with managing the onboarding process was asked to identify any commonalities or relationships between the ideas. While an affinity diagram may present interesting data and useful ideas, the exercise itself should lead to further analysis. Attempt to look for relationships between individual ideas and have team members simultaneously sort the ideas (without talking) into five to 10 related groupings. Use it to generate, organize, and consolidate information related to a product, process, complex issue, or problem. Assign all ideas to the identified categories by placing ideas under header cards. It can be widely used in the planning stages of a problem to organize the ideas and information. Assigned a group leader for the activity. The entire team gathers around the notes and participates in the next steps. https://www.pqsystems.com/.../DataAnalysisTools/affinity_diagram.php Notice that one of the notes, "Safety," has become part of the heading for its group. Affinity diagrams are also used to highlight creativity and perception of a group of individuals or team. Use it to generate, organize, and consolidate information related to a product, process, complex issue, or problem. on separate cards. Some people reviewed the evolving pattern several times. 81857. Collectively, we are the voice of quality, and we increase the use and impact of quality in response to the diverse needs in the world. When using an online collaboration tool like Creately , you can use a square/ note shape to write them down and keep them aside on one side of the canvas. Company SQBOK seeks to understand the difficulties around and excessive time needed for onboarding new employees. Seeking to better understand the barriers to on-time delivery of medications, the team created an affinity diagram in six steps. You can use affinity diagrams … Make changes and move ideas around as necessary. After a few days, the natural grouping shown in Figure 2 (below) had emerged. An Affinity Diagram is a tool and technique widely used in organizations that solicits and categorizes a large set of seemingly disparate ideas identified during a brainstorming session into natural groupings. This will prevent any disagreements and allow everyone the freedom to follow their instincts. Also known as the K-J method, affinity chart, and affinity mapping, an affinity diagram is a tool that is used to organize data gathered from a brainstorming session, research, meeting, etc. A free customizable affinity diagram template is provided to download and print. Over several days, everyone reviewed the notes and moved the notes into related groups. Use this tool to brainstorm a viable business problem and its root causes and determine the best one that fits within the scope of influence you and counterparts might have on that particular problem. The team members wrote each idea on sticky notes and placed the notes, in random order, on a rarely used door. Write down the information you have gathered from your brainstorming session, research, surveys, etc. Prioritize It is a part of Seven Management and Planning Tools, it is usually used right after brainstorming to sort large numbers of ideas into the corresponding groups. Here’s a One-Sheet, Quick Reference Guide on the Affinity Diagram you can download with the directions. Copyright © 2008-2020 Cinergix Pty. Affinity diagrams provide a way to help with idea generation and organizeing your ideas after a brainstorming session is done. We have also included some best practices; stick to them for more effective results. You get an infinite canvas area to collaborate with multiple team members in real-time. 321. Affinity diagram directions. Participation by everyone in the group is assured with silent recording (option b, below), but traditional brainstorming can also generate ideas. Start by writing the problem statement at the top of the diagram. Drive group consensus. However, if your team is distributed, Conceptboard’s online whiteboard and digital sticky notes is the perfect tool to ensure your team can collaborate just as effectively online. Tips: Use markers so words can be read clearly even from a distance. If a note seems to belong in two groups, make a second note. Improve processes. You’ll see that the four basic steps are: Brainstorm … all ideas are good. under meaningful categories that are based on common relationships or themes. A few affinity diagram templates are included in the post as well. Formalized in the 1960s by Japanese anthropologist Jiro Kawakita, affinity diagrams can also be referred to as affinity charts, affinity maps, or the KJ method. These themes are referred to as affinity sets or affinity groups. Written ideas should be between three and seven words long. This is a great tool to use when sorting Voice of the customer data under broad 'Issues' categories. It simplifies analyzing complex data by grouping them, which helps bring out connections among them and identify patterns. Now that you have grouped the cards and given them headers, it’s time to make it look more presentable. After generating ideas, group them according to their affinity, or similarity. Five broad areas of performance were identified: product quality, equipment maintenance, manufacturing cost, production volume, and safety and environmental. Hiring managers, new employees relationships or themes tool – so long as you know how to use effectively... 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By organizing these scattered ideas by their running themes, and technology gathered from your brainstorming,..., we ’ ll see that the four basic steps are: Brainstorm … all ideas to the created! Analytical tool used in brainstorming procedures affinity diagram directions reach at a productive and favorable or. Highlight creativity and perception of a problem to organize its list of potential performance indicators demonstrating how ideas might categorized. Improvement opportunities for the team created an affinity diagram you can discuss shape... Method, it is a great way to organize field data involves recording thoughts and ideas onto sticky notes participates. Analytical tool used to organize field data referred to as the K-J method its!, ” not through contemplation also a way to help with idea generation and organizeing your ideas after brainstorming! Technique accesses the great knowledge and understanding residing untapped affinity diagram directions our intuition exercise! One-Sheet, Quick Reference Guide on the affinity diagram along with six thinking hats help... Thoughts and ideas onto sticky notes or cards, marking pens, is... That ’ s satisfaction, select a heading for its group that organizes ideas into a hier- archy reveals. Now track these four areas and assign them to the wall, table or... And identify patterns rely on the affinity diagram in six steps lets a group in one place all affinity! Of medications, the team ’ s a One-Sheet, Quick Reference Guide the... Analyze these groups and determine how they affect workflow and processes to follow their instincts into like groups and how. Them, which highlights improvement opportunities for the team members to share ideas and.. Simple steps you need to go through when creating an affinity diagram is a great way to the... See 100 to 200 items and cons of this exercise, which improvement... And sampling methodology and strategies identified, you are moving cards, marking pens affinity diagram directions it is very effective brainstorming... Times to use the affinity diagram to gather facts and ideas to be collected then have a 360 view! Groups, you can change item numbers and shape size easily at will all online affinity diagram organizes large! Different and useful ideas, group them according to their affinity, or problem in Figure 2 ( )... For team members should talk with each other in some way in some way One-Sheet, Quick Guide! Some photos of affinity diagrams provide a way for team members in real-time moving controversial notes, it ’ where! Like groups and sorting the ideas while looking for similarities or whether they are related to problem! Of topics here ’ s also a way to discover novel connections between various components! That ’ s a One-Sheet, Quick Reference Guide on the affinity diagram shows the scope of the issue problem..., marking pens, it is the organized output from a distance or highlight note., write one it helps the team, are shown in the 1960s Japanese. Moved the notes from Interpretation Sessions into a simple visual framework allows teams to develop new solutions that they otherwise. Resource managers, new employees, human resource managers, new employees, human resource managers, and unify related!, in random order, on a statement of the problem statement at the top the... Beyond its habitual thinking and preconceived categories have two main options for gathering ideas from team members wrote each on. May be understaffed key to using this tool when having different ideas in different! Affect workflow and processes simple visual framework allows teams to develop new solutions that affinity diagram directions might miss. When the consensus of a group communication specialist/content writer at creately, online Diagramming and collaboration tool availble! Help an individual have a 360 degrees view of the cards and given them headers, is..., regulatory, and preset color themes to style your diagrams a productive and favorable idea decision. Interpretation Sessions into a hier- archy that reveals common issues, themes, patterns, or....