An explanation of fishbone diagrams

By

In this video, TechTarget editor Tommy Everson talks about fishbone diagrams -- or Ishikawa diagrams -- and how they work.

Reel in solutions with a fishbone diagram.

A fishbone diagram, also known as a cause-and-effect diagram, categorizes potential causes of a problem. It's named for its resemblance to a fish skeleton and is used for root cause analysis in product development and troubleshooting processes.

Here, we'll discuss the purpose of a fishbone diagram, and how to create one step by step.

The fishbone diagram was invented by Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa, a Japanese quality control expert who sought to help employees find solutions for overarching problems as opposed to individual symptoms.

For example, let's say a company is faced with declining sales and wants to get the root cause of the issue. Here are the steps to create a fishbone diagram for this scenario:

  1. List the problem in a box -- a.k.a. the fish head. The backbone is a horizontal arrow pointing to the head. Here, the problem is declining sales.
  2. At least four potential causes of the problem branch off from the spine with arrows, making the first fish bones. Causes can include methods, equipment, people, or even environmental factors. In this case, the team might consider lack of sales force training, unclear performance goals, lack of quality control, or poor marketing strategies.
  3. For each overarching cause, note contributing factors, that branch off from their corresponding cause. Contributing factors for a lack of training can include an insufficient training budget or underqualified training leaders.
  4. And continue the branching off process until a root cause is identified and agreed upon by the team.

From here, a team can develop products that address issues within the current market offering, reveal areas of weakness in a business process, avoid employee burnout, and more.

There are several digital platforms and software available to create fishbone diagrams, including Canva, Creately, Lucidchart, SmartDraw and more.

Do you use fishbone diagrams? Let us know in the comments, and remember to like and subscribe for all things business tech.

Tommy Everson is an assistant editor for video content at TechTarget. He assists in content creation for TechTarget's YouTube channel and TikTok page.