6.4 Activity: Fishbone

Agile Retrospectives — by Esther Derby, Diana Larsen (41 / 72)

👈 6.3 Activity: Five Whys | TOC | 6.5 Activity: Patterns and Shifts 👉

Use this activity to generate insights in a longer iteration, release, or project retrospective.

Purpose

Look past symptoms to identify root causes related to an issue. Look for reasons behind problems and breakdowns.

Time Needed

Thirty to sixty minutes.

Description

The team identifies factors that are causing or affecting a problem situation and then looks for the most likely causes. After they’ve identified the most likely causes, they look for ways they can make changes or influence those factors.

Steps

1. Draw a fishbone diagram (see Figure 14, ​Fishbone​) and write the problem or issue at the fish’s head. Include the five W’s — What, Who, When, Where, and Why. Label the “bones” of the fish with categories.
2. Typical categories are as follows:

• Methods, Machines, Materials, Staffing (which was formerly known as Manpower)
• Place, Procedure, People, Policies
• Surroundings, Suppliers, Systems, Skills

1. You can use these in any combination, or the team can identify their own categories.
2. Brainstorm factors…