Ishikawa Root Cause Analysis

A simple, friendly template to help your team figure out what’s really causing a problem.

Use this fishbone diagram to explore possible causes across six helpful areas: People, Process, Equipment, Materials, Environment, and Management. Just write the problem on the right, then add sticky notes under each category as ideas come up.

It’s great for team workshops, retrospectives, process improvements, incident reviews, or any moment when you want to move from “what happened?” to “why did it happen?”

By the end, your team will have a clearer picture of the biggest contributing factors, and a better starting point for deciding what to fix next.