All you need to do is to select a given cause on the fish bone and type in the text that applies to your situation.  I’ve put together two tabs with 6P’s and 5M’s, so you can fishbone in whatever manner makes the most sense in your situation.

Please enjoy.

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Fishbone diagrams help you see the probable causes then ultimately, the root cause, of a problem or occurrence in a structured way to offer a suitable resolution to the situation. Familiarity is important for every single entrepreneur or businessperson. When implementing the Six Sigma system, this device helps to supply adequate reasoning for a resolution to a specific dilemma. The fishbone diagram can even be employed in order to expedite determination of appropriate strategies to get to the end result expected. This diagram is profoundly valuable.

Fishbone Diagrams Articulate the Solutions

Fishbone Diagrams are very useful tools

Apart from this, fishbone diagrams are used to find solutions by dissecting the problems in articulate manner. Once you learn to use the tool to create a solution by dissecting the problem, you can proceed more confidently with a better knowledge of the underlying root cause, the exact process of finding the solution and the outcome of the scenario. The aim of this fishbone diagram is to make the user capable of tackling any problem with ease. This tool helps you to break tough problems into simpler causes. The name - fishbone diagram is derived from the basic appearance of the diagram schematic, which looks like fish bones are projecting from their vertebrae.

One of the key points in understanding the tool and designing the required fishbone diagram is that you must know everything about your bones. Start designing your fishbone diagram, keeping in mind, a number for the bones. Start with the design of the head of fish.  Commonly, people start with about 4, 6, or 8 bones. The bones must be titled appropriately and according to its role in your industry.  The manufacturing industry’s headings used would be different from those used in service industries. Use the headings to list the problem within the diagram.

To create a useful diagram, explaining the cause and effect, draw the different components like head, skeleton, and bones appropriately tagged with their titles. From all the bones in the diagram, you need to draw branches coming out of the bones, representing the problem causes. Cover all the problems associated with each department and include them appropriately.

When you are able to decode the true root cause from the myriad smaller problems of the different departments, you will have all the required resources to handle the issue. After creating the complete fishbone diagram for the concerned group, every cause appears clearly visible and the solutions for the issues become clear.

Fishbone diagrams have been designed with the purpose to help the concerned people to find solutions to difficult problems, which were previously hard to solve without such a tool to lend clarity to the process. This is done by identifying the causes and effects that are responsible for the trouble caused.  It is necessary to understand that when this tool is used, not to point fingers at each other and blame your co-workers for the problems and mess caused, but rather to find proper solutions for the concerned problems and fix the issue once and for all.

5M Fishbone Diagram Approach

When working with a manufacturing environment, the following categories are frequently used:

1. Measurement - including using measuring devices from the six sigma methodology to identify source causes and defects under that scope.
2. Man - including those sources caused by people input within a specific step or work stream. Often, brainstorming activities and conversations help identify inputs within this category.
3. Machine - including sources generated from machines used in the environment. Determining if one or more machines generate a significant portion of defects can be beneficial for locating the defect source.
4. Method - providing an opportunity to review procedures used in the organization. At times, a procedural change may reduce the number of defects or help identify problems.
5. Material - including any raw materials or other pieces requiring quality review during the process. At times, material used in the work stream may be the cause of defects identified by the end of the manufacturing process.
6. Environment -  including those external factors possibly affecting quality. Environmental causes should be analyzed to determine if they cause any negative effects or can be mitigated.

Fishbone Analysis

When starting the analysis, be sure to locate and document the inputs for the problem in a simple cause and effect fashion. Define the problem clearly and take the time to work through all potential factors. Nothing is out of scope during this phase. Inputs could be obvious or even unlikely or difficult to define. Consider using brainstorming sessions to identify a wide range of factors. Be aware that some may be subjective while others are fully supported by facts, data, or charts, including Pareto diagrams.

Pulling together the list of inputs requires full engagement from a wide variety of experts. The group should include representation from all impacted departments or processes. Once this begins, potential improvements to the service, product, or process may begin.

As identification of inputs occurs, the fishbone diagram develops as a result. While the look of the diagram should not be the focus, capturing all inputs is crucial. As an input is identified, additional causes could be identified. Each of these inputs and causes begin to branch from the larger bones. Throughout the process, identification may go several levels deep, which results in the shape. Each root cause is a small bone. If additional causes affect an input, that cause is not considered a root cause.

Analysis of underlying, or root cause, can be described as the method used to discover the essential deciding factor for an occurrence or flaw. This procedure is an area of interest because pinpointing the cause of an incident raises the probability of being able to produce or avoid it later on.

Many tools have been created to perform root cause analysis. A few of these tools include the Pareto chart, the fishbone chart, and failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA). Although all of these are valid and useful tools, we will take a closer look at the fishbone diagram.

By working from the end after figuring out the effect is the universal algorithm for coming up with a hypothesis. Usually, this is the incident or problem someone is trying to identify. Determining cause and effect is after that. If you ask yourself “What is causing this?”, you can come up with many different responses and you should catalog these. Upon the determination of the answer, you ask yourself again, “What causes this?”.  As such, you proceed until the root of the incident has been found.

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Creating the Fishbone Diagram

For every cause, the “why” question is asked till no more answers could be generated or until five generations have been completed (hence the 5 -Whys).  Due to it,the general shape of this diagram looks similar to a horizontal tree, or a fishbone. At the far right the original event (the effect) is listed. Then a horizontal line is drawn towards the left. From the horizontal line, the answers to the “why” questions are listed. Then the reasons for those answers are branched off. In most of the cases,the branches are a little bit slanted creating a look of a fishbone.

A company needs to reduce costs for the quarter. They do not order tools. The workers then do not have the tools they need to make the product efficiently. Without the proper tools, the workers take longer to complete their work and feel abused. This results in increased need for conflict management and incidentally higher wages so the price of the product must be raised. At a higher price, the customer refuses to buy the product. This is an example of the 5-why chain for a company that cost that company a customer.

After the root cause is uncovered, measures may be taken either to either guarantee that the root cause can be prevented in the future if the end result was a negative one, or else that it occurs again if there was a positive result. Only the symptoms of the problem get treated, as opposed to the cause, if the core of the problem is not correctly identified. Practices such as these could bring on extra costs, slower delivery, lesser quality, or all three.