A fishbone diagram is exactly what you're picturing: a diagram shaped like a fishbone. It's a type of project management visualization tool that helps you find the root cause of problems with projects, supply chains, information systems—or almost anything else in a business.
If you're looking to run a little root cause analysis on your internal workflows, I put together a bunch of fishbone templates to get you started.
Table of contents:
When to use a fishbone diagram
A fishbone diagram is typically used by managers when analyzing a problem in order to discover the cause of said problem—which can, in turn, be used to find a solution.
Compared to many visualization tools, the fishbone concept is pretty simple—you list all the issues you're having, along with evidence, and then try to diagnose the problems.
Your team might benefit from utilizing a fishbone diagram if you're trying to do one of the following:
Find the cause of a problem: Having trouble getting projects completed on time? Sudden increase in manufacturing costs? Get to the bottom of why these things are happening with a close look at each project step, documented in style.
Analyze performance: If you want to analyze why specific processes work well for your team and others get expensive quickly—diagram them. By working through every step of the process, you'll be able to identify areas of improvement.
Improve meeting efficiency: Maybe you don't have a particular problem in mind but want to have more productive meetings or generally improve a process. You can use a fishbone diagram to run through causes and effects and the accompanying improvements in a linear fashion.
In a world full of basic flowcharts, Excel sheets, and the occasional Venn diagram, the fishbone diagram feels like a breath of fresh air. It's unique, has an animal theme, and if you get really bored during the quarterly review meeting, you can entertain yourself wondering what kind of fish skeleton the artist used to create the backbone of the diagram. (I checked: it's herring.)
Ishikawa diagram template
The Ishikawa diagram is the OG fishbone diagram. But as the use of the fishbone diagram has become more prevalent, an Ishikawa diagram tends to refer to a more complex diagram with more text, as you can see in the image above.
The Ishikawa diagram is typically used where the material to be covered is more technical, like in the medicine, engineering, or development industries. So, if you have more content to cover or granular distinctions to make, this may be the diagram for you.
Common use cases:
Medicine
Engineering
Development
Other technical industries
Cause-and-effect diagram template
If you fancy diagramming on a colorful skeleton creature—which is a little metal, honestly—a cause-and-effect diagram may work better. This diagram is similar in function to the classic fishbone, but it's set up specifically to determine the order of events that led to the problem.
Where a classic fishbone isn't necessarily linear, this one is more likely to consider the order of operations by moving through problems from left to right until you arrive at the root cause. Also, it looks cool.
Common use cases:
Analyzing declining product quality
Evaluating sales
Finding a cause for employee turnover
Your problem du jour
Simple fishbone diagram template
If a lot of this looks like way, way, way too much information—that's fair. The point of the fishbone exercise is to simplify issues, so I've included a bare-bones (no pun intended) version of the diagram to satisfy even the most Spartan project managers among us.
A simple diagram like this can be useful in several scenarios. It could be used to communicate a problem without getting bogged down in the details or laterally to demonstrate the arc of a project to a team that's not directly involved. Or, it could just be a way to get to the root of a specific problem quickly.
Common use cases:
Demonstrate the wider arc of an issue
Prove a point to leadership
Quickly diagram a problem
Free basic fishbone diagram templates
Finally, we'll close with a basic template that can be used in several different scenarios. These three are available in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides formats.
As much as I would have liked to spend hours figuring out how to get a fish shape in the background of the doc and spreadsheet, these first two templates aren't as much fish bones as they are bare bones. If you want something prettier, scroll back up.
Blank fishbone diagram template: Google Docs
If you're looking for an easy-to-navigate solution—perhaps for your own mental organization rather than a team call—this Google Doc version of a basic fishbone diagram is a good start. It does what it says on the tin, in six easy-to-edit columns.
Blank fishbone diagram template: Google Sheets
You can also diagram in Sheets, giving you all the comfort of cells and columns. This template is nearly the same as the Docs version, now available with the option of adding formulas.
Blank fishbone diagram template: Google Slides
Most fishbone diagrams are utilized in a team setting, as they're a great collaboration tool, so Slides is probably the best format for creating a diagram of your own. You can use this Slide in your next collaboration meeting or as a reference for drawing on a whiteboard—digital or otherwise.
How to use these fishbone diagram templates
The process of filling out a fishbone diagram is simple. Start by clearly defining the main problem or effect, which is placed at the "tail" of the fish. Then follow the branches off the main line (spine) for each of the main categories you're using to explore causes.
These categories often follow the six M's: manpower, method, machine, material, mother nature, and measurement.
Manpower: Who do you have working on this project? Do they have the right skills?
Method: What processes are used to accomplish the tasks associated with this project? Are they as efficient as they could be?
Machine: Do the people working on this project have the right tools for the job?
Material: What resources does the project team need to accomplish the project? Do they have all the right information?
Mother nature: This just refers to the environment. In SaaS, that may be less likely to be a local avalanche, and more likely to be how much uninterrupted time your team has to work on tasks.
Measurement: How do you track success in this project? What KPIs do you most care about?
For each category, explore all possible sub-causes and type them into the text boxes or cells beneath each "M." Then you can use this diagram as a visualization tool as you have a conversation with your team about why these issues and sub-issues might occur. Over the course of the conversation, you'll be able to discover the big "why" for many of those smaller issues.
Your white whale, if you will.
By visualizing the issue and its contributing factors in this structured manner, you can better understand the interconnections and identify actionable strategies for addressing the root causes effectively.
Automate your projects
You know what's better than finding the causes of problems? Not having them to begin with. After your root cause analysis, you might find that automation can help eliminate a lot of issues involved in those six M's. Learn more about workflow automation and how it might help you get more done.
You can also use Zapier Canvas to diagram your workflows and turn them into actions, automatically. The only thing Canvas can't do is make your diagrams look like fish—yet.
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