Create Cause & Effect Diagrams in Minutes
Easily create great-looking decision trees, fishbone diagrams, Ishikawa diagrams, and more with SmartDraw.
Download Our Cause & Effect Diagram Software FREE!
Only SmartDraw draws for you. Simply input your information, and SmartDraw does the rest, aligning everything automatically and applying professional design themes for professional-quality results every time.
Top reasons SmartDraw is ideal for creating cause and effect diagrams:
- Automatic Drawing
Click simple commands and SmartDraw builds your cause and effect diagram for you, automatically. - Automatic Formatting
Add or remove a shape, and SmartDraw realigns and arranges all the elements so that everything looks great. - Quick-Start Templates
Dozens of professionally-designed cause and effect diagram examples make you instantly productive. Simply choose the template that is most similar to your project, and customize it to suit your needs. - Free Support
Got a question? Call or email us. SmartDraw experts are standing by ready to help, for free!
What cause and effect diagrams are and how they help you:
Originally developed by Kaoru Ishikawa to visualize the causes of a specific event, the Cause and Effect Diagram has come to be known by several names: Cause and Effect, Fishbone, or Ishikawa diagram. It is one of the seven basic quality control tools, and is commonly used to determine components needed for a desired outcome. The main issue is written in a box that is typically in the center of the right edge of the page. A line called the "spine" or "backbone" extends to the left starting from the edge of the main box. Branches angle off of the spine, each representing a cause or effect of the main issue. Each of these branches may contain additional branches.
A Cause and Effect Diagram is used to examine why something happened or might happen by breaking up the issue into smaller categories. It can also be helpful to show relationships between contributing factors.