Fishbone diagrams

One tool to use in performance improvement is the fishbone diagram also referred to as an Ishikawa diagram. The name is derived from the fact that it looks like one long spine with various bones branching out. This is a diagram that outlines several main potential causes for a difficulty with the end objective of what your overall goal is. Using each "bone", such as people or materials or systems issues, you can list what may have contributed to the negative outcome that you are seeking to improve. The use of the fishbone diagram allows the focus to be moved from a personal failure to a systems issue that a whole team could improve. This diagram organizes and displays the relationships between different causes and the effect that is being examined. This tool can also be used in brainstorming sessions that help to determine reasons for a possible problem.

Have any of you used fishbone diagrams? Were they effective? What would be a possible scenario of where you could use a fishbone diagram?