#TYPES OF DIAGRAMS HOW TO#

In some cases, two additional categories are included: Management/Money and Maintenance.ĭon't worry if you haven't put these to memory yet! Luckily, Minitab Workspace has all four Fishbone templates built in as part of our ultimate visual toolkit. This fishbone diagram variation is most commonly used in manufacturing and allows you to organize potential causes of a problem into these categories: Man, Materials, Machine, Methods, Measurements and Environment. This variation is also commonly used in the service industry, but can be applied in nearly any type of business or industry. This type of fishbone is named after the 8 categories that make it up: Procedures, Policies, Place, Product, People, Processes, Price and Promotion. It is commonly used in the service industry, but could be used in nearly any industry. This type of fishbone diagram gets its name from the way it organizes information about potential causes into four common categories: Suppliers, Systems, Surroundings and Skills. Even manufacturers could have different affinities due to the array of products they are producing, like food, automotive parts or electronics to name a few. In its most basic form, the fishbone diagram has no predetermined affinities or categories of causes, so you can set and create the affinities that may be unique to your organization or industry.įor example, a health care system may have affinities that wouldn't be applicable to a manufacturer and vice versa. Below are the four most popular: The Simple Fishbone Since nearly everyone can use a fishbone diagram to help them brainstorm and there are so many industries and uses, there are a few types different types of fishbone diagrams available. This continues until your brainstorming session is complete and you feel satisfied with your fishbone diagram. Then specific causes are added to each of the affinities while you are actively brainstorming. These branches become known as 'affinities' or types of causes from the spine of the central problem or effect. Then a line, which is called the 'spine', is drawn straight to the left and branches are added off shooting both above and below it.

#TYPES OF DIAGRAMS HOW TO#

Since the late 1960's, Ishikawa diagrams have helped millions of people through the process of brainstorming potential causes of an effect or problem and mapping those relationships.ĭue to their focus, shape and design, these diagrams are more commonly know as cause-and-effect or fishbone diagrams.įishbone diagrams give you a great way to brainstorm within a well-defined structure, but do you know how to fully use them and the types of diagrams that are available?Įach fishbone diagram starts the same: a central problem or effect is placed on the far right of the diagram.

Those sessions may have been disorderly at times with ideas coming from every direction or totally structured with the help of a particular diagram.

Love it or hate it, brainstorming is something we've all done at some point in our lives.

Types of diagrams