How to create an affinity diagram
To create an affinity diagram, we recommend using a cloud-based platform like Lucid, where you can easily collaborate and share your diagram with your team and store it for future reference.
Here’s how to design your own affinity diagram using Lucidspark, Lucid’s intelligent whiteboarding solution.
1. Choose a leader
It may be you, but if it's not, make sure the designated leader understands how to conduct an affinity diagramming session, how long the brainstorm should be, how to set up the Lucidspark board, and how to coordinate each step of the session.
2. Prepare your board
Set up a brainstorming board in Lucidspark and share it with participants. The more diverse perspectives, the better and more unique the solutions. Consider keeping the working group small enough that everyone can meaningfully participate in the sorting and labeling steps.
3. Present the problem
Define the problem to be solved and make sure it is visible on your board during the brainstorm. You could simply label your diagram with the problem or put it in a box at the top of your diagram to keep everyone aligned throughout the session. For best results, phrase the prompt as a question, such as "How can we improve time management at the office?" so the board naturally invites solutions.
4. Start the brainstorm
This part of the session is self-directed. Each member of your team should be assigned a collaborator color and encouraged to contribute as many ideas as they can. Unlike a typical brainstorm, where the team talks and generates ideas together, affinity diagram brainstorms are usually conducted in silence. With Lucidspark, you can set a timer to encourage the team to contribute as many ideas as possible within the given time. Remember, the idea is to welcome volume and a variety of ideas.
5. Organize the ideas
At the end of your brainstorm, you'll have a large number of ideas. This can seem overwhelming at first, but this next part is especially fun: clustering the data into topics.
Use Containers on your Lucidspark board to organize ideas by themes as they emerge from your brainstorm. For instance, if you notice that, some of your solutions involve using a different content management platform, you could group those together and label them as "content management solutions."
It's important you involve the entire team, though the leader may offer suggestions for labeling the containers. If there are duplicate ideas, simply delete one. Lucidspark makes this step easy, as virtual sticky notes can be infinitely dragged and dropped and easily organized.
Keep the grouping step silent to reduce bias, prevent louder voices from steering the discussion, and let people rely on their first instincts rather than debate. If an idea doesn't seem to fit anywhere, it's fine to leave it on its own. And if a note keeps getting moved between groups, consider duplicating it and placing a copy in each relevant cluster to reduce friction and acknowledge overlap. Depending on the complexity of the topic, you may even let the sorting run asynchronously so people can add and regroup over time.
6. Step back
Once the ideas have been organized into containers, it's time to step back and look at your affinity diagram. There are normally some interesting findings that can be seen right away. These patterns will guide you to the next steps, such as prioritizing ideas and determining the best solutions.
At this point, bring the group together to agree on labels for each cluster. You can use the most representative note as the label or create a new title that captures the theme. If multiple clusters feel closely related, add a higher-level "superheader" to combine them and make the diagram easier to interpret.
