Summary
Fishbone, Herringbone or Ishikawa diagrams were originally applied in the context of quality management and provide the means to conduct a cause and effect analysis. The technique identifies the contributory factors for a specified event, structured along the lines of categorical labels (for example factors relating to people, equipment, the supply chain and the organisation). Sometimes referred to as Cause and Effect Diagrams (CED), or Root Cause Analysis.
Example
Applies when
You have a single problem or event and want to identify the causes; You want to brainstorm ideas across multiple stakeholders.
Advantages
Simplicity, supports group collaboration, versatile and has been applied in multiple contexts. Allows the consideration of a range of psycho-social factors.
Disadvantages
May be subjective. Requires those involved to have a detailed knowledge of the topic under investigation. May be fractal in nature and so difficult to know when it is complete.
How
Identify event (may be a problem, opportunity or outcome) and then apply categorical labels to generate branches. Establish causes underlying the top level event and assign them to each branch. Decompose branches as necessary.
Also consider using
ConceptMapping, BowTie
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