Cause and Effect Chain (CEC)
A cause-effect chain (CEC) free diagram is a visual tool that we can use to logically organize possible causes for a specific problem or effect by graphically displaying them in increasing detail, suggesting causal relationships among theories. There are a number of popular types of these tools.
What will you get from Cause and Effect Chain Analysis?
The Cause and Effect Chain free diagram is a thinking tool, and it helps us, as problem-solvers and innovators, to think, organize and focus our thoughts. The traditional perception is that it helps us to find a root cause. In a way, it is true, but while working with CEC, that is not the only thing that we are getting out of this process. Here, we want to summarize how you and your team can benefit from the CEC tool:
- Learn and understand how a system works
- Identify which component or process can affect another
- Organize and focus your thinking on one cause at a time
- Quickly eliminate possible causes for a failure
When should you use the Cause and Effect Chain?
The CEC tool is useful in many different cases, and we want to highlight just a few.
- Find possible causes for a specific problem or effect
- Identify which component or process contributes to the failure
- Identify dependencies of your system
- Learn which components or processes can be affected by a change that you are making
- Identify what needs to be done to achieve a goal
From here, you can get even more creative and find many other situations when you’ll find the cause and effect free diagram useful.