There are lots of variants of affinity mapping. So even if everyone in your group has done affinity mapping before, there’s a good chance they may have done it slightly differently. So it’s a good idea to discuss exactly how you are going to do it before you start.

Some common differences are whether:​

• the whole team discuss each note together, or you divide the notes up and discuss at the end
• you can chat about the decisions you’re making, even if you are working on separate notes
• people are allowed to move notes that other people have already moved​

You need to be mindful about how you work together so as not to diverge too much.​ Regularly check back in with each other and share your current understanding.

Transfer your research findings onto a set of sticky notes. When writing notes:​

• only put one thing on each note – you need to be able to work with each idea independently​
• only use direct observations or quotes​
• use different coloured or shaped notes to mean specific things
• don’t forget about any accessibility needs of your team members

Group notes based on specific concepts.​ It is important to be specific. These are not categories or broad themes. You want to capture as much nuance as possible at this stage.
If you group every note that talks about a pain point together, all you’ve learned is that there are pain points. You probably knew that before you started.

To help you be specific, set an arbitrary limit on the number of notes in a group.
Don’t always go for the most obvious grouping. It’s easy to jump to the most obvious and superficial. But those aren’t always the best possible groups when you think carefully about our project aims.​

Sometimes notes don’t lend themselves to a group. Don’t try to force them into one. Similarly, you can remove notes that you thought were interesting when you started but look less relevant as your affinity map takes shape.

This is about more than just categorising and naming things​. When you give a group a name you are creating new knowledge about your participants. Getting this right early makes your synthesis more robust. 

• Write a descriptive, narrative summary of the notes in the group
• ​Phrase the name the way you imagine a participant would
• It should make sense to somebody outside the team​
• ​Make sure the name describes all the data in the group.

If you’re struggling to do this then it might mean the group isn’t really organised around a specific central concept.

If different groups relate to some broader concept, then you can group them together.​ Doing this adds depth to your affinity map. This might happen where you’ve previously split a bigger group down into multiple, more specific groups.​

The final step is to write up your findings by describing and explaining your groups. This is where you take your first steps towards generating insights.​