Aditi Agarwal - An Expert Guide to Problem-Solving: With Practical Examples (Learn Brainstorming, Fishbone, SWOT, FMEA, 5Whys + 6 more)

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.

- George W. Carver

O ften, in our day to day lives or at work, we encounter problems or roadblocks to proceed further. To solve any problem, we think about the potential causes for the problem and take corrective action. Many a times, there are numerous causes for the problem which makes it difficult for us to identify the most significant causes. It is important to narrow down to the critical few so we can focus our energies and efforts to get rid of them and mitigate the problem.

One of the most commonly used approach to categorize the root causes for a problem is called a Fishbone Diagram. This is also known as a Cause and Effect Diagram or an Ishikawa Diagram. It is also considered as one of the basic tools for quality management. The name fishbone comes from the fact that it is shaped like a skeleton of a fish.

Fishbone or Ishikawa diagrams were created in 1968 by Kaoru Ishikawa who was a Japanese Professor at the University of Tokyo and was famous for his inventions for quality management.

The fishbone diagram is being used across several software and manufacturing organizations as a simple visualization tool to depict various potential causes to a problem. It provides a structured way to organize and represent data in a meaningful manner.

The fishbone diagram is a pictorial representation and categorization of possible known causes to a problem, usually gathered during brainstorming. Brainstorming is a creative technique where a group of people come together and generate a list of ideas to solve a problem. You will read about the brainstorming technique later in this book.

You can apply the fishbone diagram method in solving day-to-day problems as well. This technique can be used whenever there are many possible causes to a problem or whenever there is a need to identify causes to a complex problem.

This technique is mostly conducted in a group with people from different fields of expertise. However, this method can also be used by an individual as a tool to structure ones thoughts and identify root causes.

Shape of a Fishbone Diagram:

The below figure (Fig. 1) shows the shape of a typical fishbone diagram:

Fig. 1: Shape of a Fishbone Diagram

As you can see, the shape of the above diagram resembles a fish skeleton! Hence, this diagram is popularly known as the Fishbone Diagram.

To create a fishbone diagram, the problem that one is trying to solve is written on the right-hand side within a box or a circle. Next, a central arrow is drawn that connects to the problem box or circle. This is called the Main Arrow (refer to Fig. 2).