Fishbone Diagram

Kaoru Ishikawa

The Fishbone or Ishikawa Diagram was developed by organizational theorist Kaoru Ishikawa to help analyze the root causes of a problem. The problem is represented as the central “spine” of the diagram; branches (which represent possible causes of the problem) are drawn at 45-degree angles along the spine (like “ribs”). This process is repeated for each branch. The diagram may be revised over several meetings to keep a team on task and to rule out unlikely issues. Once the team identified one or more convincing probable causes, they can stop growing the diagram and work to resolve those causes.

Technique

• Fishbone Diagram – Mycoted
• Ishikawa Diagram – Wikipedia