Affinity Diagram

• Affinity diagram is the next step to the brainstorming session
• After you've generated ideas through a brainstorming session, sort them into groups based on their similarity (or affinity)
• The affinity diagram groups a large number of ideas (or causes) into natural relationships.

• When you're faced with too much information or ideas that seem to be in chaos
• When problems seem to be too big and complicated to understand
• When it's essential to reach a group consensus

Step 1: Generate Ideas
Write down the problem. Then list down the ideas, data on cards, or Post-it notes. This needs to be quite exercised so that no one person(s) biases the other team member’s ideas.

Step 2: Homogeneous Groupings

• Attempt to look for relationships between individual ideas
and have team members simultaneously sort the ideas (without talking) into five to 10 related groupings.
• Repeat until all notes are grouped.
• It’s okay to have “loners” that don’t seem to fit a group. It is also okays to move a note if someone else has already moved.
• If a note seems to belong in two groups, make a second note.

• Affinity Diagram, a powerful technique to help brainstorm both the causes and generate new ideas