4/4/2014 Affinity Diagrams - Organizing Information and Ideas Into Common Themes

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Affinity Diagrams
Organizing Information and Ideas Into Common Themes
(Also Known as the K-J Method or Affinity Charts)

Think about the last time you tried to make sense of a large number of ideas.
You may have felt overwhelmed by all of the suggestions, or perhaps you struggled to
organize them and make sense of them. You may even have worried that you'd missed
vital details, because you "couldn't see the wood for the trees."
In situations like this, you can use affinity diagrams to organize information and ideas,
and see how they're connected. We'll look at how to create affinity diagrams in this
article.
Group similar items or ideas together.
© iStockphoto/mura

About the Tool

Japanese anthropologist Kawakita Jiro originally developed the affinity diagram – also known as the K-J Method or the
affinity chart – in the 1960s.
When you use an affinity diagram, an example of which is shown in figure 1 below, you group unorganized ideas into
meaningful themes. You can then see the connections between them.
Figure 1 – An Affinity Diagram

How to Use the Tool

Here is a step-by-step guide to creating affinity diagrams. As we work through the steps below, we'll use the example
of organizing ideas from a brainstorming session.

Step 1: Transfer Ideas Onto Sticky Notes

Write down every piece of information that you need to organize onto a separate sticky note.
When you are sure that you have written everything down, stick your notes onto a wall or table. Don't worry about
organizing information at this stage – you'll do this next.
Example: Figure 2

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4/4/2014 Affinity Diagrams - Organizing Information and Ideas Into Common Themes

Step 2: Sort Ideas Into Themes

Your next step is to sort all the ideas into groups. Start small – look for just two ideas that are similar in some way, and
group them together on the table or wall. Then, look for another two ideas that relate to one other, and so on. (Where
ideas are essentially the same, stack them up on top of one another – this will simplify your diagram.)
Then, cluster these small groups into larger ones, so that you start to gather similar ideas by theme.
Keep in mind that you might have some ideas that don't fit into any group at all. That's fine – you can look at them
later.
Example: Figure 3

Step 3: Title Groups

Now, "title" each grouping with a theme label – some people call these "affinity cards" or "header cards."
Create a short, three- to five-word description for the relationship, write this description on a sticky note, and place it at
the top of the group that it describes. You can also use "subheader" cards, where necessary, to group sub-themes
within a major theme.
If you have "loner cards," you can give them their own theme.
Example: Figure 4

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4/4/2014 Affinity Diagrams - Organizing Information and Ideas Into Common Themes

Step 4: Develop Solutions

Having developed your affinity diagram, you'll find it much easier to see how ideas fit together. Just by looking at it,
you can quickly spot projects and sub-projects that you may need to run.
At this stage, you'll need to sense-check ideas, evaluate possible projects to see whether they're worth running,
prioritize them, and manage them appropriately.

Key Points
Affinity diagrams are useful for organizing large amounts of information into common themes – for example, you can use
them to organize ideas coming from a brainstorming exercise.
They help you see connections between ideas, which, in turn, can help you explore possible ways forward.

Where to go from here: Next article

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Ask questions, or share your experience

What members say...

Dianna wrote

I'm thinking we should try to partner with 3M!!

Dianna

December 19, 2013

zuni wrote

I have used affinity diagrams to map out activity streams in large projects.

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4/4/2014 Affinity Diagrams - Organizing Information and Ideas Into Common Themes
Using the post-it notes allows the team to brainstorm major components of a
project and the various activities within each element. Because reach
project activity is on one post-it, switching out the order within a stream is
easy as dependencies are uncovered.

The skeleton of a project plan comes together quickly.

December 15, 2013

Dianna wrote

Interesting application for affinity diagrams and it totally makes sense.

Cascading down from each theme will hopefully create a well organized
plan that people can follow much easier. Being able to show how the
individual items relate to the theme is a great way to communicate what you
are trying to accomplish overall and you can choose how much detail to
communicate, when, and to whom.

It reminds me of a database structure where you can pick and choose

information to filter and sort and see connections and relationships quickly
and easily.

Dianna

December 13, 2013

srozycki1219 wrote

I have used this type of organization for presentations for a while now and
did not know it had a name. I do a lot of work in power point gantt charts
and always use layering to help organize the thoughts and message I am
trying to communicate. The company I work for is now starting to use
themes for the budget process. We used to go project by project at the
detail hour by hour level and that was a waste of time. Now the leadership
is focusing on key themes and budgeting based on how much they want to
spend in each of the theme areas. It is much more effective and easier to
communicate. Now we just need to take it to the next level and get out of
the hour by hour estimates at the beginning of a large project.

December 12, 2013

Dianna wrote

Darn it... There are few things as frustrating as when you let your manager
know how you are feeling and they don't do anything with that information. It
brings to mind the sentiment that people don't leave jobs, they leave
managers.

What are you doing to keep yourself motivated? Do you have sources of
internal satisfaction to take from?

Dianna

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December 10, 2013

Woody915 wrote

A previous employer asked the staff to use the same technique at a Team
Day to highlight three areas we had concerns over at work, as well as the
three areas we thought worked well. Unfortunately, the team day data and
feedback went largely ignored, which also included a staff questionnaire
being completed that indicated near unanimous high stress levels, and no
resilience. Too many projects, too many tight deadlines, not enough training
or processes all went unlistened to, to the point where high-ranking
managers tried to hide information in reports going the board.

Tools are great, but if your managers choose not to listen, there isn't much
you can do, except walk away. Which is what people have been doing in
their droves, leaving an average tenure of 1.2 years.

December 9, 2013

AnneE wrote

We're currently using an affinity diagram here in Mind Tools to collect and
process ideas around a particular theme we want to develop. It involves a
significant number of post it notes!

The next step for us is to map these ideas onto a 2x2 grid so that we can
understand the scale of contribution and effort/cost involved in each of
these ideas against the initial outcomes we want to achieve.

I've found that affinity diagrams are great for being creative and processing
information, but I must say that I do always then look forward to narrowing
down the possibilities to focus on what will give me the greatest value with
the help of a 2x2 grid!

Anne

December 4, 2013

Yolande wrote

I love getting order from chaos. I've used a similar technique for a long time -
without knowing that it actually had a name! What I've often found, is that in
the process of organizing, already new ideas start forming and certain
things (like a structure or process) almost jump out at you.

Looking for links between seemingly unrelated ideas stimulates my

creativity as well and I often end up with a completely new idea. That
doesn't mean I always use them, that they're practical or that they're
currently applicable - but once they're there, they can be 'filed' and used
later.

Yolandé

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December 4, 2013

James wrote

Hi Everyone

We’ve given this popular article a review, and the updated version is now at

http://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/newTMC_86.php

Discuss the article by replying to this post!

Thanks

James

December 4, 2013

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