A Fishbone Diagram is named for its looks because it resembles the bones of a fish drawn on paper. Its less creative names are Cause-and-Effect Diagram and Ishikawa Diagram. It's popularly known to help with root cause analysis. But, we can also use it to help with goals and to evaluate a potential solution.

Why is it a Supertool? Just creating its headings helps us to better define our question. Writing it out as a graphical organizer helps organize jumbled thoughts. And, when paired with a 5W2H approach and the 5-whys, it can help us dig to the root causes.

Listen to hear more about Fishbones.
Visit the podcast blog for Fishbone Diagram examples, transcripts, and other links. 

Send us a message

Support the show

If your team is still catching problems too late — let's talk.
→ Schedule a free discovery call: Dianna's calendar

Want insights like this?
→ Subscribe to my newsletter: qualityduringdesign.substack.com

Get the full framework.
→ Pierce the Design Fog 

ABOUT DIANNA
Dianna Deeney is a quality advocate for product development with over 25 years of experience in manufacturing. She is president of Deeney Enterprises, LLC, which helps organizations and people improve engineering design.