Is there anything an affinity diagram can do that a Mind Map cannot?

Anonymous,

I would have asked the question the other way; "what do people use them for and how do they construct them for that use".

Affinity Diagrams, in my experience, begin with groupings of things that have affinity towards one another (not unlike an Ishikawa or Fishbone diagram), and then you relate those groups to other things, such as an effect that you are interested in.

Mind maps instead I've seen as either a way to visualize data or to discover relationships, and thus the map grows outward. It becomes a way of saying "yes, I do want to get a Labrador Retriever as it relates to my health because it relates to my swimming and bicycling more than a dachshund would." Or a way of remembering concepts around an idea, as opposed to just organizing known points around a core thing to which they relate.

Cheers,

Keith