Cause and Effect Matrix

Cause and effect matrix is one of the most commonly used tool to prioritize the causes for an effect.

It is the next step to fishbone diagram. Suppose you have done a brainstorming session and identified 50 potential causes to your problem (effect). You will not be to work on all of them and hence must prioritize and rank them as first, second, third and so on…

How to perform Cause and Effect matrix?

Step 1: Understand Voice of the customer. Ask what is important to them? Assign a priority to the output expected (1-10). 1 being the lowest priority and 10 being top priority.

Step 2: Identify the Process input variables and identify a scale to establish relationship of input and output.

1 – Negligible impact

3 – Moderate impact

6 – Strong impact

9 – Very strong impact

Step 3: Now rank how strongly the input impacts the output.

Step 4: Cross multiply the correlation rankings with the priority factors and sum for each input.

Let us take an example to understand this better.

Process - Preparation of vegetable in the kitchen