Definition

Procedure

Preparation

Generate a list of stakeholders

Creating

Place all of your stakeholders out to where everyone can see them

Start to organize them into groups (primary, secondary, tertiary)

Place the primary stakeholders toward the center and so forth

Then start drawing connections

Move the stakeholders as more connections appear

Make the whole scene make sense so that it can be presented

Presenting

When presenting an affinity diagram, make sure to explain how you decided which stakeholders fell into each category.

Show how your proposed ideas fit into the existing network of stakeholders and relationships. If possible, show how your are creating a bridge or consolidating several.

Analysis

To get feedback on affinity diagram, you can either present it, share it in a digital setting, or share it in a physical setting. Make sure to inform those reviewing the diagram about what the purpose of the diagram is.

Once you have feedback, make notes of what people thought was correct and what was not. Then see what comments were made and how people think this experience can influence the service being provided.

Use Case

While researching how people bond through culture and food, my team created a stakeholder diagram.

Strengths

Stakeholder diagrams are great at identifying relationships between stakeholders. This can be very helpful to see how your product plays into that relationship. It can also help show where there is a missing connection that you can potentially fill.

Weaknesses

It can often be difficult to choose which stakeholders are important enough to include in your diagram.