Template of Fishbone Diagram

A Fishbone diagram is a straightforward tool that permits quick and effective tracking of root causes in pursuing corrective actions. It is also known as the cause-and-effect diagram. In other words, the Ishikawa diagram. In a Fishbone diagram template, there will be several causes, which shall group into various classes, which one shall use to highlight the causes of the potential issue.

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  • Excel 2003 (.xls) OpenOffice (.ods)Portable Doc. Format (.pdf)

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About the Template

  • In 1968, Kaoru Ishikawa introduced it for the quality management process. Hence, the reason it’s named as Ishikawa diagram.The main goal of this fishbone diagramFishbone DiagramThe Fishbone diagram or Ishikawa diagram is a modern quality management tool that explains the cause and effect relationship for any quality issue that has arisen or that may arise.read more is to brainstorm all the kinds of potential causes that shall cause the obstacle and then get deep inside into the influencers causing the issue eventually. Once the issue is discovered and eliminated by the team, it shall allow the team to keep an eye on why the issue occurred. Also, it will let one keep an eye on the history or symptoms of the problem. Moreover, from this diagram, analysts will be able to view the snapshot, which shall be real-time, of the collective inputs that the team has provided.One shall use this diagram to represent causality, and it will have two causes: primary and secondary. The 1st is the primary cause, which would directly result in the effect. While the other one, which is the secondary cause, is the one that shall lead to a primary cause indirectly. It will not have an end effect directly.

Components of Fishbone Diagram Template

Companies can design per their requirement. However, the generalized format is below:

TOP PART

Part 1 – All of the Top Boxes

The number of boxes is not defined for the template. There can be multiple templates per the requirement and the problem’s factors. These boxes shall represent the main root causes, and they have to be grouped into, and then they have to be displayed here. They must be generalized as there could be multiple similar reasons driving the same factor or root cause. These groups can also be sources that shall represent the issue.Example: If the company is looking into low customer satisfaction, and if the reason they found out is ineffective marketing or the cost of materials, etc., these two can be grouped into one source called high pricing as one of the reasons.

Part 2 – All of the Arrows Representing the Boxes

In this part, the team can now group the various causes into one common group, leading to the same. The same example is discussed above, wherein the company is trying to figure out the various reasons for customer dissatisfaction. Wherein we discussed the sources, such as ineffective marketing or cost of materials. It will be displayed under small arrows, which in the above diagram tags as the cause. There could be the second group tagged as low-quality products wherein the multiple causes could be a bad quality raw material or bad design of the product or the employees. Those who are involved in servicing the product are ineffective.

Part 3 – All of the Bottom Boxes

Here again, the content would be the same; that one needs to include the group sources of the problems that lead to an effect. Since the design is the fish type and hence the groups split into two parts, one is the top part, and the second one is the bottom part. Again, it isn’t necessary to keep the count, but one can insert any one reason at the bottom for better representation and complete the picture.

Part 4 – All of the Bottom Arrows

Now, here again, the content would be the same; that is, the reasons or the causes leading to the main group cause-effect and eventually leading to the problem. It is easy to represent the issues, group them, and take corrective action.

How to Use This Template?

  • The Fishbone diagram is similar to a fish’s skeleton wherein the problems are its head and the factors or the reasons for the issue or the problem feeding into the spine.One needs first to identify the main problem. The example discussed above was customer dissatisfaction with the main problem. Next, the team would start brainstorming the reasons for customer dissatisfaction, including low-quality products, high pricing, poor sales support, etc.Now, these factors will form the head that is directly leading to the effect, which is customer dissatisfaction. Further, there will be issues that lead to these main heads. For example, in case of poor sales support, the reasons could be long waiting queues whenever the customer arrives, the fees charged for the sales support provided, and the time taken to resolve the customer’s issue.So, these little reasons won’t directly lead to customer dissatisfaction, but eventually and indirectly, they shall lead to it. Hence, one can represent this in one diagram and present the same to the higher management.Hence, once all the factors or causes that underlie the issues of the problem have been recognized. Then, the team leaders can initiate looking for a resolution or solutions to ensure that the issue or the problem doesn’t become one that shall recur.

This article has been a guide to the time log template. Here, we provide a free downloadable Fishbone diagram template that permits quick and effective tracking of root causes in pursuing corrective actions. Also, you can download and use this template in Excel, PDF, or CSV format.

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