Alan Beacham of KM&T recently clarified my understanding of how to use fishbone diagrams and I thought it was worth sharing:
- The head of the fishbone is not a problem so much as an effect, whether negative or positive. This is why this tool can be used to both solve a problem as well as design a solution.
- Brainstorm possible causes of the effect. Don't worry too much about categories at this point.
- Cluster similar causes together (i.e., affinity mapping). The standard categories (Equipment, Process, People, Materials, Environment, and Management) may help at this point.
- Filter out causes using anything from intuition to scientific analysis based on time, cost, and the impact of being wrong. This avoids going deep on irrelevant causes or causes we can't currently address.
- Engage in 5 Whys on the targeted causes that are significant and that we can address
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing this.
So, where does the fish bone enter the picture? In step five?
The remaining causes become the main branches and yes, step 5 fleshes out the rest of the fish
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