What is Affinity Mapping?

Affinity Mapping is a way to use collaborative brainstorming to synthesize ideas. It combines the benefits of idea-generation with the strength that comes from working with others.

Affinity Mapping can be used for planning, prioritizing, or generating ideas. It helps team members see the connections between their thoughts and encourages them to work together to combine ideas in a way that is more creative and helps everyone contribute equally.

In business, affinity mapping is used for planning projects, analyzing market research data points, or generating new product ideas. In education, it can be used with children in the classroom or students working on group projects. It's also common practice among therapists, who use affinity maps to help clients identify and express feelings.

Affinity Mapping (or "Marketing Mapping" as it is sometimes called in the marketing field) is a creative process that helps people to discover what they have in common with others by looking at large amounts of disparate information. It's especially helpful when trying to understand how ideas might be grouped together, and can help groups avoid groupthink.

The basic process is to first collect the ideas, followed by grouping them together using the Affinity Mapping Criteria. When one person puts an idea in a place, others can support it by putting their thoughts around it. Then they adjust these thoughts until everyone is happy with the groupings.

The 4 Affinity Mapping Criteria

There are four criteria, listed below, that people use when deciding how to group a large number of ideas. They are meant as a set of questions you can ask yourself to help make the process more deliberate.

How does this idea make us feel?

People tend to group together sticky notes that evoke similar emotions in them. If someone puts a note down and it's met with reactions like, "Oh yeah!" or "Me too!", then it belongs somewhere else on the map. If it's met with reactions like, "Ew!", or "I don't know about that...", then you can move it to its own group.

What is the simplest way we could think of to explain it?

This one can help cut through the groupthink. If somebody says, "Well, that's just because..." or "Let me explain why that doesn't make sense," then they're probably on the right track. It's best to ignore their explanation for now and wait to hear the others' ideas.

If we were to talk for 5 minutes, what would be the one thing you'd want people to remember?

This helps keep the conversation focused and avoids rambling. People should try not to cover too much in their five minutes. It's better to have a few good ideas than a lot of muddled ones.

What are some things that are related to this idea?

This one comes last because it's important not to prejudge how people will group things together. People often make unexpected connections between ideas, and looking for these can help a map evolve naturally until everyone thinks it makes sense.

How to run an in-person affinity mapping session

1) Get a large whiteboard or several flip-chart sized whiteboards and markers.

2) Invite your group to a meeting or space they can comfortably work in. You'll need physical room for them to stick up their notes, but you don't have to have a conference room. In fact, doing it in a crowded coffee shop is perfect.

3) Give everyone five or ten minutes to write down as many distinct ideas as they can think of about the topic on sticky-notes (or cut pieces of paper). They should be able to group them into related ideas afterwards, but let them collect everything without judging the quality at this point.

4) When time is up, everyone should stick their ideas to the wall in no particular order.

5) Give your group another ten minutes to talk about each idea and ask them if they could find a better way of explaining it. Encourage people not to spend too much time on one idea or defend an idea too much.

6) When time is up, ask people to group their ideas together in a way that makes sense to them. Remind them about the criteria: how does this idea make us feel? What is the simplest way we could explain it? If we were to talk for 5 minutes, what would be the one thing you'd want people to remember? What are some other ideas that are related?

7) Take the affinity map down! This isn't about getting it "right", but simply a great way to build shared understanding. If you leave it up, group members will spend more time defending their ideas instead of building shared understanding. After the meeting is over, you can look at the map again with fresh eyes and group things differently.

How to run a remote affinity mapping session

1) Instead of meeting face-to-face, schedule a virtual meeting. Set up a time for your group to meet after giving them plenty of notice (a week is best).

2) Make sure everyone has access to whatever tool they need to participate in the call, whether it is Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or some other platform.

3) Before the meeting, send out a link to an online document where they can add their different color sticky-notes. You could use an online tool like Miro, Mural, or you could just have them paste their notes into a shared document in Google Drive. You could also consider using an Affinity Diagram template.

4) Start by giving everyone a few minutes to write down as many distinct ideas as they can think of. For each idea, they should paste a link to it in the document or briefly describe what it is.

5) When time is up, everyone should add all their ideas to the document and try to organize them into related groups. Remind them of the criteria: how does this idea make us feel? What is the simplest way we could explain it? If we were to talk for 5 minutes, what would be the one thing you'd want people to remember? What are some other ideas that are related?

6) You can continue to add to the document or debrief as a group after the call. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it is absolutely worth taking the time to get everyone's input and build shared understanding for this important project.

Timing your affinity diagram session

You'll notice that the affinity map isn't a quick process. If you're under time constraints, it is best to limit yourself to no more than 5-6 ideas for this exercise. That means you might not be able to include everything on your list, but try to get as much consensus and shared understanding as possible.

How to use your affinity diagram

Once you've created your affinity map, it's time to decide what ideas are the most important. You can prioritize them by how much people agree or disagree with each one, but priority often comes down to how important something is for the project you're working on.

You can also use an affinity diagram to see if everyone understands the problem in the same way, which is essential for designing a solution.

Affinity mapping increases the speed of group collaborations and ensures that everyone understands the ideas or concepts equally well. Since there is no right or wrong answer, it works really well with all kinds of groups, including new groups of individuals who have never met, teams, committees, within classrooms, etc.

The Pros and Cons of Affinity Mapping

Pros: In a small group or team, you can have everyone discuss their thoughts and concerns informally. In a large group, affinity mapping makes sure that each person is heard and has a chance to contribute ideas. It also helps participants organize their individual contributions into related groups so that the project leader knows what's been proposed and how it might fit together.

Cons: This is a very open-ended, non-judgmental activity, so some people may hesitate to voice their opinions for fear of being ridiculed or criticized by others in the group. Also, those who don't like a brainstorming session may not enjoy affinity mapping either.