Fishbone diagram analysis

Developed by Maria Konstantina Papaioannou

Abstract

Risk project management is a broad and complex field. It is well established that every project at every stage carries risk. Possible risks for a running or finished project are countless and may vary from anticipated to unexpected. Besides, their result ranges from minor inconvenience to disruption of the project. Thus, identifying possible risks is a key challenge for every project. Once identified and listed those risks can be categorized using qualitative risk analysis. This article introduces the Ishikawa fishbone diagram as a method to analyze numerous reasons why a project may fail. The diagram provides a visualization that simplifies the identification of risks and categorizes them. It heavily relies on the idea that minor problems matter and can lead to causes that affect badly the existing project. It is commonly used by safety and reliability engineers to detect faults in construction.

Firstly, this article gives a historical overview of Kaoru Ishikawa, who invented and named the diagram. Based on three papers that study and utilize the fishbone diagram on specific cases and the Project management book by Dennis Lock, this article analyzes its basic components and provides detailed guidance to the building of the diagram. Also, it briefly presents its implementation on the Apollo 13 incident. Additionally, the article displays the technique’s benefits and refers to its disadvantages. Finally, it reflects critically on its limitations and makes recommendations on how to maximize the diagram’s utility.

Description of Ishikawa fishbone diagram

Historical overview

Japanese organizational theorist Kaoru Ishikawa(石川 馨)was born in 1915 in Tokyo, Japan, and he is considered a key figure in the development of quality initiatives.. During the year 1968, while working as a full-time professor at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tokyo, Ishikawa studied the concept of quality and introduced the seven quality management tools for projects’ improvement in his book Guide to Quality Control. In the book, Ishikawa explains thoroughly the concept and the utility of each of the following tools: Ishikawa diagram, the histogram, the Pareto chart, the check sheet, the control chart, the flowchart, and the scatter diagram. The book includes instructions on building and reading the quality control techniques mentioned above. The Ishikawa diagram popularized during 1960 by Ishikawa who implemented quality management processes in the Kawasaki shipyards. The diagram is utilized until today by many organizations as a quality tool and therefore Ishikawa is considered one of the founding fathers of modern management.

Building the diagram

Ishikawa fishbone diagram is a technique that helps users visualize and sort numerous reasons why a project may fail. It combines brainstorming with a concept map. It can be implemented in various kinds of projects such as manufacturing, marketing, and so forth. The Ishikawa diagram is also referred to as a cause-and-effect (CE) diagram because of its function but most commonly it is referred to as the fishbone because of its unique shape. A completed fishbone diagram includes a central "spine" and several branches very similar to a fish skeleton. The head of the fish represents the problem of the project and the causes are connected with its spine that is the x-axis of the diagram.

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