7.8
AFFINITY DIAGRAMS: ORGANIZING
MOUNTAINS OF DATA
Contributed by Diane MacDonald, and inspired Michael Brassard, Nancy Tague,
and by many quality gurus and quality organizations, such as Goal QPC.Most of today’s management tools are reductionist in nature, breaking problems into smaller
parts to analyze and solve them. But what happens when you are faced with making sense of
an overwhelming amount of information? Leaders have very few tools to help groups under-
stand the big picture, seeing the larger context of current problems, as well as seeing relation-
ships among the problems. The affinity diagram tool will help you organize a large number of
ideas into logical groupings, ready for action. This tool is most useful when you:
✔ Have a large number of ideas to work with.
✔ Need to generate more ideas.
✔ Need to identify issues and themes prior to taking action.
✔ Are building consensus (especially when one person may dominate a discussion).The affinity diagram is a quality management tool commonly used in planning and prob-
lem-solving sessions to help groups see new relationships and themes, and consequently new
possibilities for action.
For example, a Community Leaders’ Executive Committee had solicited community resi-
dents’ feedback and ideas on a 10-year future community direction. Overwhelming data from
more than 150 replies presented an organizational nightmare, with each member subjectively
seeing certain data “jump out” at them for priority; for example, those with children saw “kids’
programs” as a priority. Worried about the possibility that more forceful personalities would
dominate discussion and outcome, the Community President proposed using the equalizing
and silent affinity diagramming process outlined here. As a result:
- Participants experienced this process as affirming and inclusive, with all input having
equal value. - The process helped people develop their inductive thinking, learning how to move
from the specific and particular to the general. (Being able to discriminate between
these levels of thinking is an invaluable skill for effective planning and problem solv-
ing.)
SECTION 7 TOOLS FORPROBLEMSOLVING, DECISIONMAKING, ANDQUALITY 227