Ms Office Tune Up

The Case:
You and your team are facing a seemingly complex problem, or an opportunity. Having bad experiences with partial and unstructured way of problem solve thinking, this time you want to think through all possible causes of problem. You want to explore the issues behind the problem thoroughly with your team. Hopefully, it will lead you to a more robust solution. And since you don’t have sufficient quantitative data available for analysis, you need a powerful method to dealing with the given situation.

Tune Up:
There are many methods you can choose, and the Cause and Effect Diagram is one of them. Like most other, we will call it Fishbone Diagram, since the completed diagram will look like the skeleton of a fish. Fishbone diagram is very powerful and simple way to generate innovative solutions. With this diagram, you identify the relationship between a problem and its potential causes.

The diagram looks like this:

Download:
MS Visio – Fishbone Diagram.vsd (286kb)

Hey, it’s the cheerful Dory from Finding Nemo! Hell yeah
She is supposed to help me you stay cheerful when attacking the problem. Of course you can modify the template anyway you want it. What matter the most is the basic concept.

So, how do we make use of it?

First, gather your troops and then:

1. Identify the challenge
Define the problem or opportunity in a brief statement that all can agree upon. Write it down in detail and summarize. Then fill the box in the template the problem summary/phrase on the left side.

2. Identify the major factors involved
There should be many factors that may contribute to the problem; man, method, policies, procedures, system, equipment, materials, external forces, etc. These are going to be your fishbone. Here are some guidance:

• The 6 M’s bone recommended for manufacturing industry:
  Machine, Method, Materials, Measurement, Man and Mother Nature (Environment)
• The 8 P’s bone recommended for administration and service industry:
  Price, Promotion, People, Processes, Place / Plant, Policies, Procedures & Product (or Service)
• The 4 S’s bone recommended for service industry
  Surroundings, Suppliers, Systems, Skills

But just have it your way. Your problem will certainly be unique so you may generate your own bones.

3. Brainstorm the possible causes
Held an open brainstorming session. No discussion as to the quality of the idea and especially no negative comments are allowed. Have fun with it. The only discussion might concern under which brand to place the idea. Do it until you exhaust yourself and then move into discussion session.

4. Analyze and Finalize your Dory diagram
Now you can investigate the most likely causes further, depending on the complexity and importance of the problem. Don’t forget to keep things positive, and don’t drag it out. You and your friend are to select the three or five ideas you think have the most merit in defining the problem, causes, or opportunity. Rank them from most important to least important with numerical value of five, the next four, and so forth. The item with the highest total is the one your team has selected as having the most potential for defining or solving the problem or opportunity.

The Dory Fishbone Diagram is simple to do, involves everyone in the solution process, and goes a long ways toward assuring strong support for solution implementation. So please have some fun with it

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