Fishbone diagrams from an AI reply: prompt and syntax

The prompt

Draw a fishbone diagram with Mermaid ishikawa-beta syntax that analyzes why customer complaints are rising. Write ishikawa-beta on the first line and the problem, indented, on the second. Below it add one line each for People, Process, Product, Systems and External factors, with two or three specific causes indented one level deeper under each. Indent with spaces only and write plain text on each line. Give the complete mermaid code block.

The more specific the problem and background, the closer the causes will be. Swap the categories for your field; manufacturing often uses people, machines, materials, methods, environment and measurement.

A typical result

ishikawa-beta
    Rising customer complaints
    People
        Many new support agents
        Scripts not trained
    Process
        Refunds need many approvals
        Tickets passed on without an owner
    Product
        More defects in the new release
        Outdated documentation
    Systems
        Ticketing tool often slow
    External factors
        Delays at the shipping partner

Syntax notes

• The first line is ishikawa-beta. Many assistants write fishbone; the editor recognizes it and offers to change it.
• The second line is the problem, drawn at the head.
• One level in is a cause category (a main bone) and one more level in is a specific cause; you can keep indenting.
• Each line is plain text: no node ids, brackets or arrows.

After you get the reply

Paste the whole reply into the editor; the text around the code is ignored. Treat the list as a starting point: go through it in the meeting, drop what does not hold, add what only your team knows, then export.

Export

Use Export to Word for an analysis report and Export to PowerPoint for a review meeting. Both files carry the code at the end, so you can keep working on the same diagram later. The fishbone templates include a quality problem and a project delay.