Ishikawa Diagram

By Tobias Stabrand

This article will describe the Ishikawa Diagram and provide guidance on the tool's application in project management and its usefulness within the fields of risk- and quality management in projects. The article is part of the course 42433 Advanced Engineering Project, Program, and Portfolio Management F2022 at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).

Abstract

Managing projects can be difficult, and projects will oftentimes run into problems no matter how well-planned they are. It is therefore of great importance to monitor projects throughout their lifetime, to identify risks and quality issues, as they can have a significant influence on the desired objective of the project. The Ishikawa Diagram is a tool that can help in identifying and analysing why a problem occurred, what happened, how it can be fixed as well as how to prevent it from happening again.</ref>Aldridge, E. (2022). Root Cause Analysis Steps PMP Exam Guide. Projectmanagementacademy.net. https://projectmanagementacademy.net/resources/blog/root-cause-analysis-steps-pmp-exam-guide/. Accessed 20 Feb. 2022</ref>. The tool can both be applied in the pre-project activities to identify potential risks associated with a new project, during the project process, and in the post-project activities for evaluation and improvements of future projects.</ref>International Organization for Standardization. (2020). Project, programme and portfolio management – Guidance on project management (DS/ISO 21502:2020). https://sd.ds.dk/Viewer?ProjectNr=M351700&Status=60.60.</ref>

Referencer:

Larsen, S. B. (2018). Projekter & Rapporter: på tekniske uddannelser (1st ed.). Hans Reitzels Forlag.

Jensen, T. J., et al. (2011). Kvalitetsstyring og Måleteknik (1st ed.). Erhvervsskolernes Forlag.

Bicheno, J. and Holweg, M. (2016). The Lean Toolbox: a handbook for lean transformation (5th ed.). PICSIE Books.

Christiansen, T. B., et al. (2010). LEAN: implementering i danske virksomheder (1st ed.). Lindhardt og Ringhof.

Wong, K. C., et al. (2016). Ishikawa Diagram. Quality Improvement in Behavioral Health (1st ed. pp. 119-132). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26209-3_9

Liliana, L. (2016). A New Model of Ishikawa Diagram for Quality Assessment. Iop Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering — 2016, Volume 161, Issue 1, pp. 012099. Institute of Physics Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/161/1/012099