| Xikawa Help |
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v0.07 |
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| How to use Cause and Effect
Diagrams |
How to
use Xikawa
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| Cause
and Effect diagrams, often called fishbones because of
the similar shape, are simple tools to help keep a clear
picture of the things that cause an effect. They are not
difficult to understand or do. They are much like any
practice in that the act of following a process often
keeps people from loosing focus. Imagine drawing kanji or
doing yoga or shooting hoops, simple skills produce
enjoyable results. What effect are
you interested diagramming?. Sometimes it is a problem,
sometimes it is future outcome. Regardless, try to stay
descriptive and think about if the effect is measurable. |
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How to Install Xikawa: Unzip the download from sourceforge into a folder that is on a web server. Make sure the folder allows scripts to be run. V0.08 will have a security model but until then make sure access is granted to the audience you wish. Read the 'read_me_ - release_notes.htm' to learn how to set up a simple password system for public folders. |
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You
start Xikawa by opening a browser and entering the URL of
an existing Xikawa Diagram. NEW.XML is a good
starting diagram as is SAMPLE.XML Click on EDIT. The edit links will then appear on the diagram. Start at the EDIT EFFECT TEXT Button. Enter the text about the effect you have decided to focus on |
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| There
are causes to the effects that we are interested
in. In simple things these are one to one. In the
more interesting and difficult items there are many
causes to an effect. Communicating the complexity of an
effect is how Dr.
Kaoru Ishikawa used the fishbone Diagram as part of
the Quality revolution that started in The causes can
be collected into categories that help communicate the
complexity and lead to solutions that are not clearly
seen before diagramming . |
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You
add a Category to a fishbone by clicking on the ADD
CATEGORY link at the end of spine of the fishbone. A CATEGORY has two features. The TEXT describing the feature and a link to a URL that supports the CATEGORY. |
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| Causes
are things that contribute to the effect. They can be
under your control or not. They can be small or
large but should be interesting as part of the story you
are trying to communicate to others. |
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You add a Cause to a fishbone by clicking the ADD A CAUSE link next to the CATAGORY you want the cause to be grouped in. To edit or delete a cause there are one letter links in front of each cause E for EDIT and D for DELETE. Causes have two features a link that allows you to enter a URL for the cause and a value that allows you to put 4 character text in red in front of the cause |
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| The
power of sharing and authoring is what Cause and Effect
diagramming is all about. People being able to understand
a story of complexity from a simple device.
The authors of the cause and effect diagram are the
context experts of the situation and should
take care to brand there work so that others can find
them and learn. |
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Finally you brand your fishbone
with the information about it's use and creation. Click on the EDIT DIAGRAM ATTIBUTES just below the EFFEC box to edit the various branding values. A series of questions for the Title, Author, Footer Update Date…. There is also a button to change the size of your fishbone but it does not change the fonts at this time. |
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| Storing
communicating. Fishbones are most useful when
available to others to view. Printing, storing on web
sites and presenting are very important to make the
story have influence . |
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Viewing and editing Xikawa Diagrams
happens in the same page. The EDIT link toggles with a
END EDIT link. This allows the user to see the
effect of the changes. Be SURE to click SAVE before you leave the EDIT mode as there is no reminder to save as you exit. Also if you are not sure that your server is set up correctly, be sure to Click SEE XML and copy the XML into your paste buffer. You can store through notepad if the save fails. |
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