Root Cause Analysis

Often referred to as a fishbone diagram or a cause and effect diagram, Root Cause Analysis is a powerful method to identify the root causes underlying a problem.

At some time or another, every team needs to "put their heads together". In the past, this has involved walls plastered with sticky notes, and someone staying long after the meeting to transcribe the group's decisions and insights.

1. Quickly record people's ideas as fast as they can generate them - with "handwriting" that everyone can read!
2. Keep asking "why?" until you begin to arrive at the root causes for your problem - so that you can "dig out the roots" instead of "hacking at the leaves". (This method is also known as "5 whys", because if you ask "why?" 5 times, you are likely to arrive at root causes)
3. Easily re-arrange ideas into logical groups - spawning even better ideas.

And when the session is over, everyone (including the leader) can get right back to work - because everything is organized perfectly, ready to email to all team members, and to store electronically for future reference.

Like all the other Systems2win Excel drawing templates - you can quickly expand your workspace by simply unhiding pre-formatted rows and columns.

The most important thing to know about the Systems2win Root Cause template is that it is FAST to use. In the heat of a group brainstorming session, there is no time for complex or temperamental software. With the Systems2win Root Cause Analysis Cause and Effect Diagram, you can quickly copy similar cells, quickly drag n drop, quickly move things around, quickly resize boxes - to quickly whip up a professional-looking completed Ishikawa Root Cause Fish Bone Diagram.

Notice that you can easily connect multiple arrows in multiple directions to depict causes that have multiple effects and effects that have multiple causes. (Because that's the way the real world works... right? Things are rarely as linear and rigid as the thinking of most computer programmers. Remember, this is "just Excel", and therefore has all of the flexibility and customization possibilities of any Excel worksheet.)

There are two popular ways to use the Root Cause Analysis tool:

1) Use a projector, and make the changes where everyone can see them.

2) Use sticky notes on the wall - while an assistant transcribes the results into a more legible version that can then be used for easier editing (to clarify and organize) and Affinity Grouping, and can electronically archived and emailed to participants after the meeting.

You can even import data into text boxes...

• From a Systems2win FMEA worksheet
• From a Systems2win brainstorming worksheet (Tip: copy from Word to Excel, then import)
• From any Excel worksheet containing any data that you want to quickly import into root cause textboxes

Months or years from now - when a similar problem arises, it's easy for your team leaders to retrieve your electronically stored fishbone diagram and pick up where you left off. Easily answering the question, "what were our thoughts when we last considered a similar problem?"

If a user is already familiar with how to use Systems2win Excel templates to create drawings that are every bit as powerful as Visio, then the learning curve for a new user of this template takes only 1 to 2 minutes (because it is so similar to all of the other Systems2win Excel drawing tools for continuous improvement).

The Cause and Effect Diagram comes bundled with the many other Lean Six Sigma tools - all of which are non-statistical tools designed to supplement (not replace) your favorite Six Sigma statistical software.

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On-line training: Brainstorming & Root Cause Analysis