When information becomes overwhelming, shortening it into a summary can remove relationships that matter. Classifying material from several perspectives and mapping connections between concepts can reveal both clusters and links that cross their boundaries.
Make the classification principle explicit
The same customer comments may be grouped by type of complaint, usage context, business process, or hypothesized cause. Categories are not necessarily natural facts waiting to be discovered. State what the classification is intended to help you understand.
Distinguish groups from relationships
Grouping methods such as the KJ method can help people see the whole. Concept maps can express statements such as “A causes B” or “C is an example of D.” But naming a link on a diagram does not establish that the asserted relationship is true.
A small exercise
Collect ten short notes and classify them twice using different principles. Look for important relationships that neither classification captures.
Related pages
– [The KJ Method | Grouping Fragmented Observations]