Effective Project Management Tools
Fishbone Diagram
In this section the benefits of using Fishbone diagram as a tool within project management and how to create a fishbone diagram effectively will be articulated.
WHY Is it USED
Fishbone diagram is an ever growing project management tool that is used in order to ensure that all possible causes for an effect or problem can be identified.
By identifying the possible causes for a potential problem or effect at the early stages of your project allows the problem to be eradicated before it’s too late - the earlier a problem is overcoming the least costly it will be to your project. Fishbone Diagram can be used in order to structure a brainstorming session and it can immediately sort ideas into useful categories.
When should it be used?
So when should a fishbone diagram be created for a project? The answer for this is sooner rather than later. Fishbone diagram is made so that once a potential problem is brought to light the possible causes for the problem can be identified so that they can try to be avoided so that the potential problem will never actually occur during your project.
Fishbone diagram should be used especially when a team’s thinking tends to fall into certain ruts (which is inevitable throughout the majority of projects that you will run).
How to use it
Fishbone diagrams can produce on either hardcopy e.g. flipchart of whiteboard or by using softwares including Microsoft word or PowerPoint, it’s entirely up to you. However, there is six main steps that need to be followed in order to create an effective diagram. These are as followed:
Step 1
Discuss
At first you and your project team will need to agree on a specific problem statement/ effect. Write this on the centre of the page with a box around the problem with horizontal arrows running to it.
Step 2
Brainstorm
Once you have completed the first stage brainstorm together what you believe to be the major categories of causes to the problem. Some generic headings for the categories can include:
-Methods
-Management
-People (manpower)
-Materials
-Measurement
-Methods
However, these headings should be tailored to suite your project and problem/effect.
Step 3
Structure Ideas into Diagram
Once you have identified the main categories that you are going to use, write the categories of causes as branches from the main arrow.
Step 4
Causes for Problems
The main stage, brainstorm all the possible causes of the problem. Continually asking, 'Why does this happen?'
As each idea is given, the ideas given should now be wrote as a branch from the appropriate category. Causes can be written in several places if they relate to several categories.
Step 5
Deeper Thinking into Causes for Problems
At the penultimate stage of creating your own fishbone diagram you should remain critical again asking “why dos this happen?” about each causes. Produce branches off of the causes and write down any sub-causes and continue to ask “why”? in order to generate deeper levels of causes. Layers of branches indicate causal relationships.
And finally, when all ideas have been put forward from your project group, try to focus attention to places on the diagram where ideas may be less than other.
After all these steps have been completed your fishbone diagram is complete. Continue to refer to the diagram to eradicate these causes to the problem earlier rather than later so it’s less costly to your final project.