Fun with Fishbones

Last week, I facilitated a fishbone diagramming session with an in-house team.

I really enjoy the practice of drawing a fishbone, which seems to surprise a lot of people.

Fishbones are very useful, so here are a couple of tips:

1. Write a clear problem question for the 'head' of the fish. Something like, "Why are 50% of customers dissatisfied with operation of Product A".
   Not, "customer dissatisfaction" - vague problem statements lead to a messy fishbone.
2. Use the 4 Ps (or the 4 Ms) as the primary bones of the fish. The 4 Ps (process, product, place, and people) are my favorite, but the 4 Ms (man, machine, method, material) work as well. These will make sure you consider a wide range of possibilities.
3. Use a separate sheet of paper for each of the 4 Ps. In the photo, you'll see the head in the bottom left of the photo, and the 4 'bones' in the center. The outside sheets of paper build off of the 4 P's.
4. Divide your fishbone team into 4 groups. Have each group take a separate sheet and start working on it. They should answer the problem question for their 'bone' - for example "Why can process cause 50% of customers to be dissatisfied with operation of Product A."
   This step eliminates the waste of time that occurs when someone suggests an idea and everyone wonders what 'bone' to put it under. Endless discussions like, "Is hiring a process? Or is it really under people?" will paralyze a fishbone session.
5. Make sure the 'whys' are expressed in negative terms. Don't just write 'documentation', write 'documentation is not available in Japanese'.
6. As energy decreases, rotate the four groups. They will then mark-up and add to the work of the previous group. Do this until all groups have added to all four 'bones'.
7. Paste the bones together. All the above should take about 45 minutes.
8. Rate each major 'bone', on a scale of 1 to 5 - how likely is it to be a cause of the problem.
9. Split into teams to attack the most likely causes!

This high energy approach makes fishbones fun and effective. 

Give it a try.