Having trouble getting started on that Business Plan for your new service?  Have an idea for a major process change, but don’t know how to plan it?  Try using an Effect and Cause Diagram. Process improvement practitioners may think that’s a typo.  They’ll claim the correct name is the Cause and Effect Diagram. Actually, the part of me that works in process improvement loves using Cause and Effect Diagrams for their traditional applications of Root Cause Analysis and understanding why errors occur.  They make it easy to visualize the various reasons why an undesirable outcome happened (note that is past tense…happened).

But the other part of me is a planner, usually thinking about desired outcomes in the future. Years ago, that planner part of me started wondering if the Cause and Effect Diagram would also be useful in displaying necessary ingredients for achieving something desirable, like a new service or a fully implemented process improvement.  The basic premise and constructs of the diagram would still apply.  Show the outcome as the head of a skeleton, the bones of which describe the various requirements (causes) needed to achieve that outcome.  Highlight levels of detail and related requirements by where they are placed in the skeleton.

If you’ve worked with Cause and Effect Diagrams before, this may seem pretty simple, and in fact maybe it is a more common practice that I think.  If you have little or no experience creating Cause and Effect Diagrams, I encourage you to try it.  If you have registered as a member of my web site (free and no obligation), go to the Resources Page where you will find a downloadable PowerPoint file that includes a Template that you can use to build your own. The file also includes a little background on both traditional and converse cause and effect diagrams.  Not a member?  Why not sign up now?

The best part of using the diagram in this new way is the return on time invested. You can convene a small group of 2-4 stakeholders for an hour to complete the diagram together.  You’ll exit that meeting with a better understanding of what it will take to achieve your outcome.  Suddenly, writing that Business Plan or Implementation Plan may not seem so daunting.

Because the application is different, I’m inclined to give the tool a different name. Effect and Cause Diagram? No, that doesn’t really roll off the tongue.  I kind of like Converse Cause and Effect. But what’s in a name, anyway?

If you would like more help using cause and effect diagrams in the traditional way (like the process improver in me) or in a new way (like the planner in me), give me a call. I’m sure one of us can help.

Jeff