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Affinity
Diagram
The
Affinity Diagram
is an analysis tool that allows a team to
systematically generate a large volume of ideas or inputs about a
problem or issue and organize these into logical groupings to promote a
fuller understanding of the problem or issue and facilitate its
resolution.
The affinity diagram is good
for: 1) encouraging people to become creative in providing their inputs
to unravel a problem; 2) promoting communication among different members
of a team; 3) identifying both the natural and non-conventional links
between ideas; 4) bringing out breakthrough results in a natural way; 5)
enhances the feeling of ownership of results among team members; and 6)
preventing a team from meeting a blank wall when the information either
becomes overwhelming or confusing.
To construct an affinity
diagram, the following steps are usually followed:
1) state the problem or
issue of interest in one full sentence (see example in Fig. 1);
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What
steps and considerations are involved in setting up an early
life failure monitor? |
Figure 1.
Example of a Problem Statement for an Affinity Diagram
2) brainstorm at least 20
ideas or sub-issues that can contribute to the understanding and resolution of the problem
or over-all issue at hand and write each input in large, bold letters on
a sticky note; post each sticky note on a board
that's visible to the entire team (see Table 1 for ideas brainstormed
for the problem in Figure 1);
Table 1.
Ideas Generated for the Problem Statement in Figure 1
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1)
equipment needed
2)
manpower available
3)
equipment available
4)
failure mechanisms of interest
5)
in-house reliability testing capability
6)
over-all procedure for the ELF monitor
7) components of a
basic ELF monitor
8)
customer returns being received
9) failure analysis
support for the monitor
10) how the ELF
monitor will integrate into the over-all Rel program of the
company
11) cost of any new
equipment needed
12) levels of
expertise of personnel
13)
what kind of data the ELF monitor must generate |
14) training needed
for the personnel
15) the actual purpose
of the ELF monitor
16) the
consummables needed for the monitor
17) the utilities
required by the monitor
18) procedures and rel
tests needed for each component of the ELF monitor
19) capital expense
budget approved for the monitor
20) cost of sustaining
the monitor per quarter
21) reporting of the
ELF monitor data
22) metrics for the
ELF monitor
23) ownership for the
ELF monitor
24) test support for
the ELF monitor |
3) sort the
ideas from the brainstorming into 5-10 related groupings by
silently
moving
the sticky
notes around; very large groupings may be further broken down into
smaller subgroups, as long as each subgroup represents a common idea;
4) capture
the central thought or theme that each grouping of ideas represents and
write this on a bigger sticky note (of different color, if possible),
which will serve as the
header card
of the grouping; the central theme should be arrived at through
consensus; post each header card at the top of the group it represents;
5) draw the final affinity
diagram (see Figure 2); the problem or issue statement should be in a
large box at the top of the diagram; the groupings of ideas must be
below this problem statement box; the ideas in each grouping must be
clustered within a box that is topped by the header card.
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What steps and considerations are involved in setting up an
early life failure monitor? |
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Analyze
why an ELF Monitor needs to be set up |
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Define
how the ELF Monitor will be implemented to meet its purpose |
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Define
the manpower and logistical requirements of the ELF Monitor |
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Assess
the costs of setting up and sustaining the ELF Monitor |
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15) the actual purpose
of the ELF monitor
10) how the ELF
monitor will integrate into the over-all Rel program of the
company
13)
what kind of data the ELF monitor must generate
4)
failure mechanisms of interest
8)
customer returns being received (that need to be prevented) |
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6)
over-all procedure for the ELF monitor
7) components of a
basic ELF monitor
18) procedures and rel
tests needed for each component of the ELF monitor
21) reporting of the
ELF monitor data
22) metrics for the
ELF monitor
23) ownership for the
ELF monitor
|
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1)
equipment needed
2)
manpower available
3)
equipment available
5)
in-house reliability testing capability
9) failure analysis
support for the monitor
24) test support for
the ELF monitor
17) the utilities
required by the monitor
16) the
consummables needed for the monitor
12) levels of
expertise of personnel
14) training needed
for the personnel |
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11) cost of any new
equipment needed
19) capital expense
budget approved for the monitor
20) cost of sustaining
the monitor per quarter
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Figure 2.
A Simple Affinity Diagram for the Problem Stated in Figure 1
In the
affinity diagram above, the ideas were grouped into four general steps
that need to be followed in order to understand what it takes to set up
an ELF Monitor. These steps (the central themes of the groupings)
were shown in the gray cells of the table, which represent the header
cards of an actual affinity diagram construction session.
See Also:
Tree Diagram;
Matrix Diagram
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