Fish(bone) Stories
Fish(bone) Stories
Reimagining the fishbone diagram for the digital world
- Publication:
- Quality Progress
- Date:
- August 2019
- Issue:
- Volume 52 Issue 8
- Pages:
- pp. 14-23
- Author(s):
- Watson, Gregory H., Spiridonova, Ekaterina A.
- Organization(s):
- International Academy for Quality, Neste, Helsinki
Abstract
The fishbone diagram, also known as the Ishikawa diagram or the cause and effect diagram, was developed in a time when graphics were mostly hand drawn on paper. The fishbone diagram originates from value engineering and was created to simplify the systems and problems that needed to be solved for anyone using the diagram. Kaoru Ishikawa designed the fishbone diagram to focus on six M's: materials, machinery, methods, measurement, manpower, and mother nature. Another version of this diagram includes a seventh M, which is money.