The Affinity Diagram workshop starts by asking participants a question tied to a specific business objective-and then it flows into the following steps or phases: This helps reinforce team cohesion and can also drive greater alignment around the decisions made at the end of the brainstorm. Each participant is invited to speak at the start of the workshop, while others are asked to listen and remain open to different points of view. ![]() It saves time by giving teams an easy way to add more focus to their brainstorms.It can also be used to synthesize product user data, work through problematic technical or organizational issues, and prioritize tasks for overcoming roadblocks.Even in the face of large amounts of data or complicated scenarios, Affinity Diagrams make it possible to hone in on major trends that help teams see the ‘big picture’ clearly. It provides an efficient framework for structuring the creative process.As such, an Affinity Diagram offers teams several advantages: If you do, you risk adding bias and marginalizing some of the participant’s ideas.First used in the 1960s by ethnologist Jirō Kawakita-and sometimes referred to as the "K-J Method"-an Affinity Diagram organizes the output of a brainstorming session by grouping ideas together based on their relationship to each other, typically around common categories or themes. Don’t start categorizing them until idea generation is complete. The team leader, a Six Sigma Black Belt, gets the entire team into a room, buys them pizza, hands them sticky notes, and asks them to write down their concerns on a sticky and leave it on the board.īe sure just to get all of the ideas on the board first. But they are concerned that their organization’s culture will put up too many roadblocks for them to bring the ideas to fruition. A team returns from Six Sigma for Process Owner training. ![]() The idea is that no one team member influences the others, as opposed to brainstorming.Įx. It could be on Post-it notes or in private survey results. Quietly, individually, the team gathers a bunch of ideas. How to Create an Affinity Diagram? Step 1: Gather Ideas Matrix diagrams, prioritization matrices, and activity network diagrams all require significant prior knowledge. The affinity diagram requires the least amount of preliminary knowledge compared to other management tools. ![]() This allows you to set strategy higher rather than trying to attack each item individually. But, if you group submissions into themes, you’ll have a great list of groupings. This method helps you reduce large amounts of data into a smaller set.įor example, if you send out a survey to a large team asking for ideas on how to improve the team, you’ll get as many unique ideas as you have people. Affinity diagrams help you organize ideas into meaningful categories by recognizing common groupings. Very similar to a cause-and-effect diagram, in that brainstormed ideas are segregated into categories used to organize facts and data on an unfamiliar subject. Possibly invented by Jiro Kawakita and thus sometimes referred to as the K-J method, an affinity diagram is a good technique for identifying & displaying potential root causes for unfamiliar problems. Affinity Diagrams are used to reduce larger processes to a few key steps.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |