When to use it
Use it for a quarterly business review, a sales retrospective, or to explain results to management. The first four bones cover product, price, channels and promotion, and the last two cover the team and the outside environment. Every cause should be something a number can verify, not a feeling.
Make it yours
- State the measure on the second line, such as "Q3 sales down 18% year over year".
- Add data after each cause, such as "Top performers left, 3 people".
- For business customers, replace Channels with "Customer mix" and write lost accounts and fewer new deals.
- Indent with spaces only and keep lines on the same level aligned.
Mermaid code
ishikawa-beta
Quarterly sales declined
Product
Core product past its peak
New product launch delayed
Price
Competitors cut prices
Fewer promotions than last year
Channels
Foot traffic down at key stores
Lower ranking on marketplaces
Promotion
Ad budget reduced
Content published less often
Sales team
Top performers left
New hires convert poorly
Market conditions
Seasonal low
Customers tightening budgetsAsk an AI for one with this structure
Send the prompt below to ChatGPT or Claude, then paste the whole reply into the editor; the code inside is detected automatically.
Draw a fishbone diagram with Mermaid ishikawa-beta syntax that analyzes why quarterly sales declined. Write ishikawa-beta on the first line and the problem, indented, on the second. Below it add one line each for Product, Price, Channels, Promotion, Sales team and Market conditions, with two specific causes indented one level deeper under each. Indent with spaces only and write plain text on each line. Output only the mermaid code block.
FAQ
- Should internal and external causes be separated?
Present them separately: the first five are mostly within your control and market conditions are not. Spend the time on what you can control.
- How do I tell which cause matters most?
Break sales into traffic, conversion rate and order value, see which fell most, then find the matching causes on the diagram.
- Can it go straight into review slides?
Yes. The exported PowerPoint has the diagram on its own slide, ready to copy into your deck.
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Updated 2026-11-11