Creative & Goals

KJ Method Affinity Board for Beginners: Write Notes, Group Them, Add Labels, Draw the Diagram

Beginners who need to make sense of open survey answers or meeting comments use this KJ Method affinity board to move step by step from sticky notes to group labels and a finished diagram. The whiteboard uses two pages - on the left the rules for writing one fact per note, a 5W1H radial map, and four labelled island examples; on the right the four KJ Method stages, a three-by-three worked example, an arrow diagram of the islands, and three frames on common mistakes. The task board has five columns - notes written, grouping, labelled, diagram and write-up, done - and starts with 4 parent tasks and 12 subtasks, from setting the question to writing the final text, all not started. Even if you have only ever stuck notes on a wall and stopped there, the one fact per note rule and the worked label examples turn a pile of opinions into one diagram and a short text. The board follows Jiro Kawakita's original order, so it works as it is for training days and seminar group work.