Fishbone diagram
A fishbone diagram (also called Ishikawa or cause-and-effect diagram) is a tool for root-cause analysis that organizes potential causes of a problem into categories radiating from a central spine.
In depth
Fishbone diagrams were developed by Kaoru Ishikawa in the 1960s for quality control. The 'head' of the fish is the problem statement; the 'spine' runs horizontally; and the 'bones' represent categories of cause (the 6 M's: Manpower, Methods, Machines, Materials, Measurement, Mother Nature).
The visual structure forces a team to consider every category before jumping to a single hypothesis. Variants include 5 Whys-anchored versions and Lean's 8-waste-anchored versions.
OpenCharts supports fishbone-style diagrams via the whiteboard and a fishbone template that you can fill with AI-suggested causes from a problem statement.
Also known as
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Use a fishbone templateRelated terms
Mind map
A mind map is a radial diagram that organizes information around a central idea, with primary branches for major themes and sub-branches for supporting details.
Process map
A process map is a visual representation of a workflow that documents the sequence of steps, decision points, and handoffs needed to complete a business outcome.