Tips for Building a Fish Bone Diagram

The fishbone diagram was created by Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa and was originally called the Ishikawa diagram. It was renamed the fishbone diagram because of its resemblance to a fish skeleton. The diagram helps business management personnel in the manufacturing and service industries dissect a major problem in a project into the root causes. This allows the team to see the issue from every vantage point and the cause and effect of each potential problem.

• Think of the diagram as the skeleton of a fish. There is the head, the spine and the ribs. The head is the major problem, the spine is the connection and the ribs are the possible factors contributing to the problem.


• Determine what the problem is. If working alone, this should be easy. However, on team projects the team must agree on what the major problem is. Have a meeting with the team where you discuss what each person believe is the major issue. Once the team agrees, you have a starting point.


• Write the major problem in the head of the skeleton. Makes sure to write notes on when the problem started and which employees were involved.


• Brainstorm each major factors that could have contributed to the problem and write each one on a rib of the skeleton. This helps categorize each factor. Some factors could be price, policies and quality in the service industry and methods, equipment and management in manufacturing industry.


• Discuss minor issues that may have influenced the major factors. This could be the economy slumping, a piece of equipment not getting the job done fast enough or a manager with a team member not dedicated to the project.


• Keep an open mind to any possible factors. The purpose of the fishbone diagram is to look at any possible factor that could have caused the entire problem. Without keeping an open mind, you could possible overlook one of the root causes of the problem.