Project Management : What is Fishbone diagram or Ishikawa diagram or Cause and effect diagram ?

 Fishbone diagram or Ishikawa diagram or Cause and effect diagram

Fishbone diagram or Ishikawa diagram or Cause and effect diagram are used to show causes of specific event. It is used for quality defect prevention and product design. Fishbone diagram illustrates how various factors lead to potential problem. Root cause is obtained by asking how and why along the lines.

The common cause categories in Fishbone diagrams are :

1. Time
2. Machine
3. Method
4. Material
5. Energy
6. Measurement
7. Personnel
8. Environment

So purpose of Fishbone diagram or Ishikawa diagram or Cause and effect diagram :

To break down (in successive layers of detail) root causes that potentially contribute to a particular effect

The fishbone diagram is expanded by brainstroming.

Below is a sample Fishbone diagram or Ishikawa diagram or Cause and effect diagram  :

Fishbone diagram or Ishikawa diagram or Cause and effect diagram