Ishikawa/Cause-Effect/Fish Bone Diagram
... is a fault identification process.
... is a guided brainstorming process.
The Ishikawa Chart is an excellent tool for evaluating a process. Commonly known as the Cause and Effect Diagram, Ishikawa charts are a method of charting and evaluating all the inputs for a given process. Once all the inputs have been charted, each can be evaluated as a source of variation in the overall process.
The following diagram shows the basic format of the Ishikawa chart (there are other formats but this one best suits our purposes). You can also use the STEMCF (Inputs) as the bones (from Johnston, Clark and Shulver textbook).
The process involves identifying every input to the problem using about six headings. The process involves a high degree of thinking about the process and will often generate a number of sub-lines and sub-sub-lines.
The final Cause and Effect Diagram looks like a fishbone.
