Affinity Diagram Template | What is an Affinity Diagram? | Miro

Affinity Diagram Template

Organize and cluster ideas and data in order to effectively develop solutions.

About the Affinity Diagram template

The affinity diagram template can help you organize and consolidate ideas from your brainstorming sessions. An affinity diagram is a tool that can lead to more innovative and better solutions when working through complex problems. But it’s not just ideal for brainstorms — this is a great template to use when you need to reach consensus or analyze data such as survey results.

What is an affinity diagram?

An affinity diagram is a visual brainstorming tool that allows teams to organize ideas according to their natural relationships. We’ve all participated in brainstorming sessions that seemed to go nowhere, and with so many people sharing a large number of ideas and perspectives, it can be difficult to distill these conversations into a coherent takeaway. This is where an affinity diagram comes in handy.

Benefits of using an affinity diagram template 

You can use an affinity diagram to generate, organize, and consolidate information that comes out of a brainstorming session. Whether you’re building a product, working through a complex problem, establishing a process, or piecing apart an issue, an affinity diagram is a useful and simple framework.

Incorporate everyone’s perspective

An affinity diagram gives each team member the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas about the topic. By collecting everyone’s brainstorming ideas, an affinity diagram functions as a visual representation of a brainstorm that everyone can add to.

Find connections between ideas

Affinity diagrams are also a great way to discover novel connections between various components of a project. Synthesizing ideas into a simple visual framework allows teams to develop new solutions that they might otherwise miss.

Organize team thoughts and ideas

Finally, an affinity diagram template is a valuable tool of an organization that divides a project into various discrete components and allows you to dive deeper into each individual component. Organizing thoughts in this way can help you break up tasks and delegate responsibility.

When to use an affinity diagram template

Teams and organizations use affinity diagrams in a variety of situations. When your brainstorming session feels like it’s devolving and there are too many ideas to capture, or when the issues are too large and complex to grasp, you can use an affinity diagram to cut through the chaos.

But it’s not only useful during chaotic meetings; you can also use an affinity diagram whenever a consensus is needed, when analyzing data such as survey results, when grouping ideas into themes, or when organizing datasets.

How to use an affinity diagram template

Making an affinity diagram with your team is easy. Get started by selecting this affinity diagram template, then go through the following steps:

Step 1: Ideation

The first step of the process is to start recording the ideas that you’d like to sort into categories. Get everyone in the team involved and ask them to put forward a few ideas.

Step 2: Diagramming

Next, examine the ideas and try to find related concepts. Then, discuss with the group and start to tentatively draw connections between ideas. Invite team members to add sticky notes sharing their perspectives. When you notice related concepts, group them together. Repeat this step until you’ve grouped all the concepts.

Step 3: Grouping

Repeat step 2 until you’ve grouped all the concepts. It’s okay if there are concepts that seem to defy a grouping. You can return to those later.

Step 4: Team discussion

Discuss with your team and make sure everyone is on the same page. Do you agree with the groups? How should you label them? Do you need to make any changes?

Step 5: Synthesize ideas

Finally, combine these groups into “supergroups”, to synthesize ideas into a more cohesive whole. The completed affinity diagram can be used to enhance future project management and inform decision-making.

FAQ about affinity diagram template

What is the purpose of an affinity diagram?

The purpose of an affinity diagram is to generate ideas and organize them in a manner that draws out the various connections and relationships between different ideas. Affinity diagrams are visual brainstorm tools, but with a focus more on the connections between ideas.

When are affinity diagrams used?

Affinity diagrams are used by businesses and organizations to analyze data, generate ideas, and organize projects or analyses. Any time you want to more clearly organize data or ideas to generate some useful conclusions, an affinity diagram can be used.

How do you use affinity diagrams?

You use the affinity diagram template after a brainstorming session or ideation. Afterward, group the ideas, concepts, and data gathered into clusters and see the connection between them. The affinity diagram template is done when you managed to synthesize your ideas up to the point you can inform decision-makers and identify solutions to the proposed problem.

Affinity Diagram Template

Get started with this template right now.

Related Templates
cisco-network-diagram-thumb (2)
Preview

Cisco Data Network Diagram Template

Works best for:

Software Development, Diagrams

Cisco offers data center and access networking solutions built for scale with industry-leading automation, programmability, and real-time visibility. The Cisco Data Network Diagram uses Cisco elements to show the network design of Cisco Data Networks visually.

Cisco Data Network Diagram Template
BPMN template-thumb-web
Preview

BPMN Template

Works best for:

Mapping, Diagrams, Business Management

The BPMN template helps you track and get an overview of your business processes. It’s a great way to identify any bottlenecks and make your operations more efficient. The BPMN methodology became a universal language when managing business processes, and multiple industries use it as a management tool. Project managers, business analysts, and IT administrators use the BPMN process flow diagram to manage projects, visually communicate the process flows, and keep track of process constraints. Try it for yourself and see improvements in your organization’s agility.

BPMN Template
mental-model-thumb-web
Preview

Mental Model Template

Works best for:

Business Management, Mind Mapping, Diagrams

Smart solutions and strong, strategic decisions. The best organizations make both, and a mental model is designed to help them do it. We give you a fast and easy way to try it out — just fill out our ready-made, flexible template and add sticky notes, shapes, and arrows to create a powerful map.

Mental Model Template
How Now Wow Thumbnail
Preview

How Now Wow Matrix Template

Works best for:

Ideation, Product Management, Prioritization

There are no bad ideas in a brainstorm — but some are more original and easier to implement. The How Now Wow matrix is a tool that helps you identify and organize those great ideas, as well as reinvigorates your team to think creatively and take risks (a taller order as you scale). Grab this template to create your own matrix, then rank the ideas you generated in a brainstorm as “How” (difficult to implement), “Now” (easy to implement), or “Wow” (both original and easy to implement).

How Now Wow Matrix Template
ux-research-thumb-web (1)
Preview

UX Research Plan Template

Works best for:

Market Research, Desk Research, User Experience

A research plan communicates the fundamental information that stakeholders need to understand about a user experience research project: who, what, why, and when. The plan ensures everyone is aligned and knows what they must do to make the UX research project a success. Use the research plan to communicate background information about your project; objectives; research methods; the scope of the project, and profiles of the participants. By using a UX research plan, you can achieve stakeholder buy-in, stay on track, and set yourself up for success.

UX Research Plan Template
UML Class Diagram
Preview

UML Class Diagram Template

Works best for:

UML Class Diagram Template, Mapping, Diagrams

Get a template for quickly building UML class diagrams in a collaborative environment. Use the UML class diagram template to design and refine conceptual systems, then let the same diagram guide your engineers as they write the code.

UML Class Diagram Template