Ishikawa diagram – fishbone diagram
the fishbone diagram was design in 1960 (because all good things came out of the 60’s right?) by Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa. The purpose of the diagram is to analyze the effects and what causes these effects.
in basic terms it is a diagram of cause and effect
which for any usability engineer this is wonderful very very wonderful
usually when we go about addressing an issue we need to ask a series of questions and than ask even more questions once we have gotten to an answer but for the most part we need to answer these basic questions:
- Need to study a problem/issue to determine the root cause?
- Want to study all the possible reasons why a process is beginning to have difficulties, problems, or breakdowns?
- Need to identify areas for data collection?
- Want to study why a process is not performing properly or producing the desired results?
(http://quality.enr.state.nc.us/tools/fishbone.htm)
i have come across a tool that will allow you to create a fishbone diagram on-line and http://classtools.net/education-games-php/fishbone/
anyways before i go off track here there are major categories that are typically used to label each bone of a fishbone diagram these are suggested but not required:
- The 4 M’s:
- Methods, Machines, Materials, Manpower
- The 4 P’s:
- Place, Procedure, People, Policies
- The 4 S’s:
- Surroundings, Suppliers, Systems, Skills
so lets start creating diagrams to help bebe figure out how to get coffee without crying
oh last but not least and a subject that will require its own post is the question why
DO NOT forget to ask why at least five times to fully understand what the probelm is…..
for example:
why is the chicken not laying eggs?
because she is too busy
why is the chicken too busy?
because she needs to make a nest
why does she want to build a nest?
because she wants to have chicks
why does she want to have chicks?
because she is a chicken
what did we learn from this a chicken will lay an egg but like all chickens in her own time