IDEA BOTTLENECK? HERE’S HOW A FISH CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE…
In the 1960s Professor Kaoru Ishikawa, a Japanese management theorist, developed his pioneering cause-and effect analysis diagrams. (We call them Fishikawa because they look like a fish bone — and he’s called Ishikawa.)
Combining Brainstorming and Mind Mapping, Ishikawa originally intended his diagrams to monitor quality control — but their tremendous versatility means you can use them for many other issues too.
· Discover the root cause of a problem.
· Uncover bottlenecks in your processes.
· Identify where and why a process isn’t working.
This list is by no means exhaustive, and the really great thing about Fishikawa diagrams is that they will push you to consider all possible causes of any problem, rather than just the most obvious ones. By sorting all potential factors into categories and subcategories, you can shine a light on every stage of your process, and the attendant variations each one brings. Soon, you will have an easy-to-digest breakdown of your entire process.
SO HOW DOES IT WORK?
1 — Gather materials: flipchart or whiteboard & marker pens.
2 — Define your problem statement (the effect): write this on the right or left side of your chart/board — either is fine as long as there’s a big enough space to draw the fish bones (the causes). Draw a box around THE EFFECT (fish head) and draw a horizontal arrow running to it — this will be the fish’s spine.
3 — Brainstorm the major categories for the causes of the problem. Write the categories of causes as branches from the main arrow. If defining these categories is difficult you can use CATWOE — Customers, Actors in the process, the Transformation process, the overall Worldview, the process Owner, and Environmental constraints.
Other generic groupings could be:
· Methods, Machines, People, Materials, Measurement, Environment
· Product, Place, Price, Promotion, People
· Systems, Equipment, Materials, External forces, People involved (actors)
· Strategy, Structure, Systems, Shared Values, Skills, Style, Staff
· Site, Task, People, Equipment, Control
Let’s breakdown the first example.
Methods: How the process is performed and the requirements that govern it: policies, procedures, rules, regulations, laws
Machines: all equipment, computers, tools, etc. required to accomplish the job
People: anyone involved — eg. employees, customers, managers.
Materials: Raw materials, parts, pens, paper, etc.
Measurements: any and all data you have
Environment: location, time, temperature, culture
As you can see, the categories are really open as to how you want to define them. Each project or process may need to be defined in a different way.
4 — Brainstorm all the possible causes of each category. The facilitator writes each suggestion as a branch from the appropriate category. These causes can be written in several places if they relate to several categories.
Ask “why does this happen?” about each cause. Write sub–causes branching off the causes.
When the group runs out of ideas, focus attention to places on the chart where you have the fewest ideas.
You should then have a diagram that looks something like this:
Here’s another example:
IN CONCLUSION:
There are four steps to using the tool.
1 — Define what problem you want to analyse
2 — Work out the major factors involved.
3 — Identify possible causes.
4 — Analyze your diagram.
You’ll find this method is particularly useful when you’re trying to solve complicated problems. Not only will your findings be accurate, you may draw some surprising conclusions that defy your preconceptions. Try making a fishikawa diagram using Ideaflip today.
- With ideas from ASQ (American Society for Quality), MindTools & MarketerGizmo
Ideaflip is an ingenious tool for the remote-working era, providing the perfect, online space for all your team to connect, interact and create — wherever in the world they are.
The Ideaflip Brainstorm PROCESS is also perfect for at-work collaboration. It democratises the workplace, creating a platform for everyone to have their ideas heard — inspiring PEOPLE to participate through PLAY — and helps discover and harness everyone’s latent creativity.
