Affinity diagram

The affinity diagram is a business tool and is one of the Seven Management and Planning Tools and is a tool used to organize ideas and data.

The tool is commonly used within project management and allows large numbers of ideas to be sorted into groups for review and analysis [ [http://www.leanyourcompany.com/methods/Using-Affinity-Diagrams.asp Using Affinity Diagrams to make sense from brainstorming] ]

The Affinity Diagram was devised by Jiro Kawakita in the 1960s [ Improving Performance Through Statistical Thinking By Galen C. Britz] and is sometimes referred to as the KJ Method

Process

# Record each idea on cards or notes
# Look for ideas that may seem to be related
# Sort cards into groups until all cards have been used.

Once the cards have been sorted into groups the team may sort large clusters into subgroups for easier management and analysis [ Value: Its Measurement, Design and Management By M. Larry Shillito] Once completed the affinity diagram may be used to create a cause and effect diagram [ [http://www.tin.nhs.uk/index.asp?pgid=1129 NHS Improvement network] ]

References