Affinity Diagram and its Applications in Project Planning

An Affinity Diagram is a diagram which is constructed out of a large set of ideas or opinions by grouping together similar or related ideas into logical groups. It is a Project Management technique which is very effective during brainstorming sessions in order to organize ideas. The Affinity Diagram concept can be effectively utilized by teams in Manual Project Planning while working upon an area with incomplete knowledge (thereby requiring a certain amount of brainstorming) or while working on unknown/unexplored areas.

There are a variety of tools which can be used during brainstorming, such as Mind-maps etc. So one would wonder when and where Affinity Diagram is to be used, and what advantages it can provide over other Project Planning Tools.

Specific applications of Affinity Diagram are

Going through Large Volumes of Data

When there is a large amount of data to go through, in the form of an unsorted / unorganized list etc., it helps to use an Affinity Diagram in order to lend a degree of structure and organization to the data.

Stimulate Idea Generation and New Patterns of Thinking

An Affinity Diagram can be used to stimulate idea generation, because the groups which are formed as a result of an Affinity Diagram help provide clarity in thought processes and stimulate new patterns of thinking.

An Affinity Diagram as described above is best suited to specific areas and should be avoided under certain conditions. When the data sets available are small in number (lesser than 15) the Affinity Diagram can be skipped. There is no significant benefit which can be gained by creating the Affinity Diagram as the data is neither too large to become cumbersome nor too disorganized to confuse thought. Creating an Affinity Diagram under such circumstances may just be an exercise in futility.

The following sequence of steps can be followed in order to create an Affinity Diagram

1. Generate a pool of ideas via Brainstorming
2. Display ideas such that they are clearly visible to everyone
3. Sort the ideas into logical groups
4. Create header cards or title cards for the groups
5. Draw the final Affinity Diagram

The structure of the completed Affinity Diagram is as indicated below

click to enlarge