4M-6M categories: what it is and what it means

The 4M-6M categories are the families of causes that appear on the branches of an Ishikawa diagram: Manpower, Methods, Machines and Materials in the four-category version, with Measurements in the five-category version and Environment in the six-category one. Each category carries a guiding question, and the question stays the same when the words change: in an office the "machine" is the management software and the "material" a missing piece of information. Four categories are enough in an office of three people, six are needed on the shop floor; the labels are renamed, not multiplied beyond six or seven, because the diagram has to fit on a single sheet of paper or a whiteboard.

Distinctive: guiding question
Distinctive: renamed, not multiplied beyond six or seven
Essential: Manpower, Methods, Machines and Materials
Essential: Measurements
Essential: Environment
Constant: families of causes
Constant: on the branches of an Ishikawa diagram

Glossary

4M-6M categories

The families of causes that label the branches of an Ishikawa diagram: four, five or six, each with a guiding question and with the words of the place where the effect occurs.