A fishbone diagram can be an invaluable tool in problem analysis. It’s been used for a long time in many industries, and it’s important to understand the benefits it brings to the table. When it comes to uncovering the root cause of a problem and addressing it in a meaningful way, it’s one of the best tools you have at your disposal. That’s why every good leader should take the time to familiarize themselves with the way fishbone diagrams work, and their appropriate utilization.

Easy Visualization

A fishbone diagram is a purely visual tool. It can help you identify issues that you normally wouldn’t think of. By laying out everything in a visually connected way, you can easily see where problems could be originating. Even if it doesn’t immediately point you in the right direction, it should at least allow you to eliminate some false positives by just evaluating the diagram. This can make it a very useful tool when you’re trying to quickly iterate over different ideas.

Identify Bottlenecks Effortlessly

Thanks to the way a fishbone diagram visualizes relationships in a process, you should also be able to identify bottlenecks much more easily. It will be obvious when certain points of the process are restricting the overall flow, and you might even be able to identify potential solutions by just looking at the diagram. When combined with other analytical tools, a fishbone diagram can be extremely powerful in identifying points where your system is underperforming.

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Find Opportunities for Improvement

And that brings us to our next point. With the way your processes are visualized in a fishbone diagram, you can easily determine if some parts of your setup require any kind of improvement. This can be done with other tools, sure. But a fishbone diagram holds some unique advantages in this regard. It can help you identify those opportunities in an actual context – the process itself. Furthermore, using a fishbone diagram over multiple iterations of some change can help you visualize how that change is affecting the rest of the processes it’s connected to.

Improve Everyone’s Understanding

Last but not least, using a fishbone diagram is a good way to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Leaders and employees alike are going to come to certain realizations about their work after seeing it presented this way. And this can be a very powerful educational tool for improving everyone’s aptitude in their positions. This is a common reason for the use of fishbone diagrams in many organizations. If you’re having trouble keeping everyone up to speed, analyzing issues through this tool can be a useful approach.

If you’ve never approached any problems in your company with a fishbone diagram, you might want to give it a try. It’s not a universal solution to every problem you’re going to face. But it can still go a long way towards finding an appropriate approach for many difficult situations. Plus, your colleagues might appreciate the new perspective after they’ve become familiar with it. 

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There are several quality control tools in Six Sigma, one of them being the fishbone diagram. It is mainly used in root cause analysis, particularly in the Analyze phase of the DMAIC methodology. Sometimes you will hear it being called the cause and effect diagram when project managers are using it for quality management.

What is a Fishbone Diagram?

A fishbone diagram is a graphical tool that is used to identify all potential causes of a process or product failure. When drawn, the result looks like the skeleton of a fish – hence the name. It is used when thinking about root cause analysis on a higher level, leading to solutions that have the potential to solve the problem once and for all.

When we analyze a problem, we tend to put heavy emphasis on the obvious causes. These are the causes we think have the biggest impact on the problem we are experiencing with a particular process or product. But when the cause and effect diagram is used correctly, we can find out that the obvious cause we think is major is actually minor and vice-versa.

The fishbone diagram was developed in 1960 by Kaoru Ishikawa. He was a Japanese professor and expert in quality management. The fishbone diagram also goes by other names, such as the Herringbone diagram, Fishikawa diagram and Ishikawa diagram.

How to create a fishbone diagram

A fishbone diagram is undoubtedly an important tool, which can make one think that drawing the diagram is a complicated process. However, it is a relatively simple process. You just need to follow the steps below:

Identify the problem

You start by drawing a box on the right, which will serve as the fish head in the diagram. This is where you will write down the problem. From there, you will draw a horizontal line from the center to serve as the spine.

Categorize potential causes

The categories will be 45-degree lines that attach to the spine of the fish like bones. The category names can have generic names, such as material, method, machine, manpower, measurement and environment.

Brainstorm all potential causes

Place the potential causes of each category as sub-branches of each bone by drawing a horizontal line. If the cause belongs in more than one category, it is acceptable to include it wherever it may apply.

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Analyze each cause

Look at each cause and ask yourself: Why did this happen? This will lead to further sub-branches that identify more potential causes.

Analyze the diagram

At this point, you have completed the fishbone diagram. All possible causes have been identified to the deepest level, allowing you to further analyze the diagram to find the root cause.

Conclusion

A fishbone diagram is at the heart of root cause analysis when a process or product misbehaves. It allows project managers to brainstorm all possible causes and investigate them further to uncover the root cause. It is a popular tool in Six Sigma and has led to the improvement of many processes in many organizations.

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Pareto Analysis: This is a technique that helps determine which tasks make the most overall impact. This uses the Pareto Principal, which is also known as the 80/20 rule. It  translates to 20% of the work done generates 80% of the benefit of doing the entire process or job.

Broken down:

• 20% of your products or services account for 80% of customer complaints
• 20% of possible causes account for 80% of delays in the schedule
• 80% of your profits come from 20% of your product or services
• 80% of your company’s revenue is produced by 20% of your sales staff

Pareto Chart: This is a vertical bar chart that helps you automatically see by the descending order of the height of the bar and how to prioritize the problem. This can help in analyzing issues and identifying root causes.

Flowcharts: These are great and can be used in process mapping. Flow charts give a visual of work processes. Anyone can quickly see how and if there are duplicate efforts being done or what part of the process doesn’t offer value to the end product.

Check Sheets: These are used to collect data and keep an organized list of data.

Histograms: These are to quickly find variation in an existing process. The spikes in the histograms would show the variation. To create a histogram you need to:

• Collect the data having to do with the issue
• Prioritize the data
• Assign categories
• Create a bar chart
• Fill in counts and categories

Cause and Effect Diagrams: Also known as the fishbone or Ishikawa Diagram, these are used when a company team is involved in problem solving.  Brainstorming is a big component used for filling in the possible causes and effects. The cause and effect diagrams can be used in the service, manufacturing, or process steps, and any category that you need to visually see what would otherwise be a concept or verbal acknowledgement of a problem.

Learn more about these tools through one of our Six Sigma training classes! For more information on our Six Sigma training courses or services, visit 6sigma.com.

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Every Lean Six Sigma tool is used to improve not only business processes, but eliminate waste so that the end result is a satisfied, happy customer. This is why businesses exist — to produce a great product or service. Let’s look at some of the tools used within Six Sigma.

The 5 Whys: Suppose there is a problem. Just keep asking why until you have answered the core of the question, which you get you to the cause of the problem.

Fishbone Diagram: This can also be called a cause and effect diagram used in brainstorming. Brainstorming, we all know, is a creative free-flowing way to get solutions, yet the fishbone diagram is a structured tool.

DMAIC: This is the most genius template in Lean Six Sigma for improving existing business processes.
-Define: The goal of the new product or service, set realistic and measurable goals, why it is needed.
-Measure: You must know that factors that are critically important, this should include any parameters, including risks, also accessing the production process and product capability.
-Analysis: Here you develop design alternatives, work with different combinations and outcomes, and select the best components that would work.
-Design: Basically a detailed prototype is developed. After this is done, a more detailed version is developed, where errors may make it necessary to modify the current version.
-Verify: Here is the final step where the newly designed product is taken to the real world test to see if it will work perfectly. Many production runs might be necessary to see if the quality is the absolute highest it can be.

Taking Six Sigma courses does improve your thinking because it keeps you organized and helps prioritize so that no stone is left unturned. We all tend to think in a free flowing manner, and that is when we get in trouble because we leave out valuable information. The best quality of Lean Six Sigma tools and the Six Sigma methodology is that it is applicable in just about every aspect of business and lives.

Start the New Year with a bang! We’re currently offering Six Sigma training classes in Orlando, Dallas, San Francisco, and several other cities across the country in January 2018. Check out our courses and services at 6sigma.com.

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As with all the data in Six Sigma, the first step is to state the problem or issue clearly and concisely. Make sure you state the problem as a problem and not like a solution. Keep in mind that you don’t yet know what solution will work to rid your problem.

Depending on your industry the categories could vary. With your team, agree and pick some categories that you could find the causes for the issue at hand. For example, categories in the service industry could be policy/rules/procedures or equipment/supplies, or perhaps environmental issues.

Make This a Time to Create Solutions as a Team

Then, along with your team, put your heads together and come up with possible causes of the problem. The best tool for finding the deep issue is 5 Whys tool. Keep asking, “Why does this happen” over and over until you can’t get any deeper. Along the way, you will probably make other discoveries in sub-categories, which will help you prevent future similar problems.

Inspire each of your team members to get involved in brainstorming since this is a perfect opportunity to encourage team morale. Too often, supervisors or team leaders look to place the blame on their team, and not to make them part of the solution.

Make sure each team member has a chance to give their opinion as to what they feel are the top three root causes. Record them on the fishbone diagram, and with the backup data vote on the top culprit.

*This is just an example of how you can use a fishbone diagram. It is abbreviated, but it should give you an idea of the mindset you need to have.

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Step 1 – Materials For Your Fishbone Diagram

Creating your fishbone diagram will require several materials. In your group, ensure that you have a whiteboard, some butcher block paper, or a flip chart on which to draw. Sticky notes are useful to have on hand when listing potential causes. Sticky notes allow you to re-arrange your notes as you develop your diagram. Cards are a useful alternative. You might want to consider looking into various software packages designed for producing Fishbone Diagrams, such as EngineRoom for Microsoft Excel.

Step 2 – Stating the Problem

Once you have assembled your materials, write down your problem. Try to be as descriptive and detailed as possible. Cover every perspective you can. Write it down on one side of your whiteboard etc. (this side should be labeled Effect, the other Cause) and then draw your backbone. A simple horizontal line pointing towards your problem.

Step 3 – Categorize Your Problem

Next, decide on how you intend to categorize your causes. You can do this either of two ways:

• By function (the most frequently used approach)
• Or by process sequence

Now you need to include relevant categories for your diagram, usually manufacturing settings, such as Machine, Process, Resources, Measurement, Staff, Environment, and so on. Policies, or high-level decision rules, sometimes replace tasks like Machine and Process, while Procedures, i.e. particular tasks, replace others. All your categories should branch off of the main backbone to create a fishbone shape.

Step 4 – List Your Causes

Now list all the potential causes. Your diagram will lack detail at this point, but brainstorming sessions with your team will help fill out the remaining categories and subcategories. You can also use whatever data you have available. We find that the 5-Why strategy is a good choice here, as it consistently questions your subject, down to the finest details.

Step 5 – Deep Analysis

We recommend taking your analysis as deep as it will go. Techniques like Regression Analysis and Design of Experiments will help you quantify correlation and causation. Don’t forget, the helpfulness of your diagram depends on how far you develop it. The more detailed your diagram, the more detail with which you have to work. It may take some time, but a rigorous approach to designing your Fishbone Diagram will certainly pay off. As you continue to quantify your variables and contributing causes, add any new information to the chart. Be sure to keep to the fishbone structure, with new causes branching off from parent categories with each new addition. There you have it, your own Fishbone Diagram!

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