Fishbone Diagram Template (Ishikawa Diagram)
A fishbone diagram puts a result on the right, as the head of a fish, and the causes that led to it along bones that branch off a backbone. It is also called an Ishikawa diagram or a cause-and-effect diagram, after Kaoru Ishikawa, who created it. It began as one of the tools of quality control.
The example is oversleeping. The causes are sorted onto four bones: sleep, habits, the room and plans. The number of bones and their names can be changed to fit your own problem.
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Start from this diagram and edit it on your own board.
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What each part does
- Oversleeping
- The head. Write what actually happened, such as the problem that keeps coming back.
- Sleep
- A main bone: a group of causes. Here, everything to do with sleeping.
- Habits
- A main bone for what you do every day without thinking about it.
- Room
- A main bone for the place: light, temperature and where things are.
- Plans
- A main bone for what is on the schedule, or what is not.
- Late to bed
- A cause, written next to its bone. Write the causes as short facts, not as complaints.
How to fill it in
- On the right, write the result as it happened, for example “oversleeping”.
- Decide the names of the main bones, the broad groups of causes. Here they are sleep, habits, the room and plans.
- For each bone, write the causes in any order. You can add a small bone for the cause of a cause.
- When you have finished, mark the causes that seem most likely to matter.
- Check whether the marked causes are real. Write what you still have to check next to them.
When to use it
- Sorting out the causes of something that keeps happening, such as being late.
- Reviewing why the household budget ends up in the red, by income, fixed costs, variable costs and how you manage money.
- Going through, with others, why something at work or in a club did not go well.
Common variations
Choose the names of the bones for the problem
Use groups that fit the problem. For a household budget, income, fixed costs, variable costs and how you manage money; for work, people, tools, methods and the environment.
Add the cause of a cause
Add a small bone beside a cause and write why it happens. You can keep going until you reach something you can act on.
Decide what to do
When you have marked the causes, write down what you will do about each. If you have several options, compare them with a decision matrix.
Make it yours
Replace the result and the names of the bones with your own problem. Three to six bones are enough, and two or three causes on a bone are easy to read. This diagram has two bones above the backbone and two below.
Opens this diagram as a board you can edit.
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, including sending images of your strokes, diagram labels and similar data to providers in the United States (Cloudflare, Inc. and TypeSafe AI, Inc.) for AI conversion.