- Take a sticky note from the wall and read it
- Look for a category that it would make sense in and put the note there
- If there is a note in the category that says the same thing, stack them on top of each other with the most descriptive note on top
- If the note you have does not match an existing category, think of a new category and announce it to team members
- If you cannot understand the note, put it in the "?" category to examine at the end

Sort Sticky Notes into Top-Level Categories

- Every team member chooses a category to work on
- Look for related themes within this category and form these themes into subcategories
- Try not to be idle during this step. If you finish with your category help someone else who is still working

Sort Sticky Notes into Subcategories

- Read each of the findings and subcategories found
- Groups go around and all summarize the categories they worked on

Summarize the Categories (Present)

Different methods for determining priorities are used depending on if the meeting is to analyze findings or organize new ideas.

- Usability testing
- Design Ideation

Determine Priorities

- Sort notes into top-level categories
- Sort each category into subcategories
- Summarize the categories (Present)
- Determine priorities

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

- Before the meeting
- Generating sticky notes
- Organizing the sticky notes into groups

Steps in the Affinity Diagramming Process

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/affinity-diagram/ 

"Affinity Diagramming for Collaboratively Sorting UX Findings and Design Ideas" (Kara Pernice)

- Team members will write down their ideas or facts all on different sticky notes
- In a usability session: team members write down observations, ideas, or findings on different sticky notes
- In an ideation workshop: attendees write down each idea on a separate sticky note

Generating Sticky Notes

Steps to Organizing Sticky Notes

- Find a room that has walls where the sticky notes can be placed
- Think of a few categories to help facilitate sorting during the meeting
- Add a "?" category for notes that are not understandable

Learn Before

Related

Learn After