Affinity Diagram Example

Affinity diagrams are a type of business tool that is used to organize information and ideas. It's one of the seven tools for management and planning. People have been classifying data into groups based on natural ties for thousands of years, but Jiro Kawakita coined the phrase affinity diagram in the 1960s, and it is also known as the KJ Method.

The tool is often used in project management and allows vast numbers of brainstormed ideas to be sorted into groups for evaluation and analysis based on their natural ties. It's also commonly used in contextual inquiry to keep track of notes and insights gleaned from field interviews. It can also be used to organize other types of free-form comments, such as open-ended survey responses, support call logs, and other qualitative data.

Creating an affinity diagram in EdrawMax Online is pretty simple. The free affinity diagram maker has several features, like directly importing the data from the .csv file or creating one from scratch using free templates.

Step 1: Login EdrawMax Online

Log in EdrawMax Online using your registered email address. If this is your first time accessing the tool, you can create your personalized account from your personal or professional email address.

Step 2: Choose a template

EdrawMax comes with hundreds of free affinity diagram templates. Select a pre-designed template from the product based on your preference or need by selecting the ""Business"" on the left navigation pane. It will open up several affinity diagram types. Alternatively, press ""+"" in EdrawMax Online canvas to create an affinity diagram from scratch.

Step 3: Customize the diagram

Customize your affinity diagram by changing the symbols and shapes as required. With the easy drag-and-drop feature of EdrawMax Online, you can use all the relative elements from libraries.

Step 4: Export & Share

Once your affinity diagram is completed, you can share it amongst your colleagues or clients using the easy export and share option. You can export an affinity diagram in multiple formats, like Graphics, JPEG, PDF, or HTML. Also, you can share the designs on different social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Line.