Sonoma State University
Department of Computer Science
CS-370: Software Design and Development
Exercise 16: Ishikawa diagram

Objective:

To identify probable causes of a software defect by drawing an Ishikawa diagram.

The scenario:

Suppose a project has a States table that lists the states (in the United States) where the customer does business. A search dialog lets the user select one of the states from a drop-down list to select accounts from the selected state. Some of the use cases call for the states to be set to Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, but during tests New Hampshire does not appear in the drop-down list.

The exercise:

• Draw an Ishikawa diagram showing possible causes for this problem.
• What steps would you take to try to find the root cause of the problem?

Uploading your solution:

• This is an individual exercise, not a team exercise.
• Please upload your answer in either PDF (Acrobat) or as an image file (i.e. digital scan of a paper document).