explaining a Problem Statement to a Farmer

Todd
What you are looking for I believe is a good metaphor or story that helps puts Six Sigma in the context of your audience, be they farmers, executives or whatever.  I have found this to be a difficult thing (not impossible) to achieve when you have a large, mixed audience, especially if there are large cultural differences.
In a session held recently with small group (10 of us), the subject of “myth” was discussed, the question posed being, “What is the power/use of myth in business” – the term myth used here meaning story.  An anthropological insight was that, “Myths are the stories that tell us who we are.”
We determined that it’s the lowest common denominator story or metaphor that will help get your message across.  In the case of a farmer and an executive in the same audience, what is the lowest common denominator story?  What might they have in common – sport? children? profitability? – but how do they think about profitability?
The art is in (1) choosing a good/appropriate story, and (2) crafting this story to relay the messages you want, whatever they are.
These are the questions.  You need to work on the answers.
 

JZuzik,I think your reading this question in the wrong context. I work in a machine shop in the Midwest and have family, friends and co-workers that are “Farmers”. I think Todd meant  2 different backgrounds. The question never implied that Farmers are any less than Executives.

My Suggestion:
Make a list of questions to be answered:
1. What is the cost impact in terms of hard savings, capacity enhancement?
2. Does the deliverable of process has direct linkage to the external customer?
3. What is the level of effort required? Are there any areas which depend upon the implementation of activities outside the project? Does the process involve inputs from different geographical facilities? (things like that)
4. Is a measurement system in place? Do we have a historical data available?
5. Based on que 3 & 4 what is the duration of project?
I suggest develop a rating for each question based on answer and pick a project with highest / lowest rating.
hope this was helpful
Hemanth

Sounds like JZuzik is another one of those knee-jerk folks who respond to posts on this forum before stopping to actually think for a while.  Although I understand what JZuzik was getting at, apparently he/she has not been around farmers enough to know how incredibly intelligent and creative they really are, and that using that profession in such analogy is not a slam on farmers. 
You could easily exchange any job that has a lack of familiarity with process improvement and use the same analogy.  I don’t believe Todd was slammng Farmers, referring to them as somehow being unintelligent.  It appears that his intention was to simply inquire how the Six Sigma expert can explain, in uncomplicated terms, a concept to someone who has a very different axis of orientation than his/her own.
ReggieDeen

Todd you just wrote your problem statement. “Coyotes are killing our sheep.” Ofcourse if the solution is known (kill the coyotes) then its a “go do” project rather than a DMAIC project. To drive the six sigma learning I might stretch it a bit and ask typical questions like “are we sure its coyotes (are we guessing a root cause), Perhaps a better problem statement then might be x% of sheep are found dead each week in field Y or something along that line. We may find by studying the problem that it was wild dogs rather than coyotes. You get my drift.

Todd,I use the attached Word® documents (I included a filled out example as well) during the Define Phase to develop the project charter for both BB/GB projects. I received a very similar version of this tool some months ago from someone through this site and would like to give credit to her but I can’t seem to locate her name at the current time. I have found it to be an excellent project planning tool. It is clear, concise and easily understood by all stakeholders. You can modify the questions on the second page to accommodate your business/needs/application. Hope this is helpful.Regards,Brad M.Green Belt Project Charter (Word Document)Black Belt Project Charter (Word Document)Black Belt Project Charter Example (Word Document)

Lee,
You bring up a tremendous point that I think many people, new to six sigma, miss. The key is to find the root cause and prove it with data, not to jump to a solution and then have to implement another solution in 6 months when this one doesn’t work.
A case in point is the Jefferson Memorial. Frequent washings were causing the stone to deteriorate. Why? Because of many interrelated factors. Without me killing the story, there is a video on the subject that may be applicable: http://www.juran.com/testing/segment_qm.cfm?test_id=392
It’s testatment to the fact that decisions without data are often times not optimal.

Billybob,
Glad to see you are still around.
It appears the squirrel fam is in tact as well.
Regards,
Mike

I agree with machinist – there is a definitite need for the ability to explain six sigma to varying backgrounds, because quite honestly there are “varying backgrounds” in every industry. 
I think what Todd was/is trying to say is that both CEOs and farmers are “dumb” when it comes to six sigma (yes, I said “dumb”) just as black belts and pharmacists are “dumb” when it comes to farming.  Todd’s questions was without malice and like most people in the world today, you need to leave your sensitivity training graduate (with honors) certificate at the door.

As a number of others have mentioned, farmers and CEOs have a lot in common. Avoid jargon, use examples that are relevant, etc. What’s great about this situation is that by making it relevant to the different audiences, you’re forced to use a variety of examples that will help each audience truly “get it.”

You probably need to back up and explain what a “customer” is in Six Sigma… commodity buyer, consumer, regulator/health inspector, employee, livestock, etc.
For your #1, make clear that adverse effects are generally relative to expectations (food safety, taste, etc.)
#2: All processes are measurable. Give examples of relevant continuous and attribute measurements that relate to customer satisfaction. (Some people use difficulty of measurement as an excuse to keep managing by intuition, at much greater cost.) Farmers and CEOs should understand yield and ROI.
#3: Quantify the problem or opportunity. Careful on communicating this, because many audiences don’t see a “problem” because they think they’re doing “pretty good.” In this case, the problem is that we could do better but we’re not, and eventually the competition will pass us up if we don’t improve.
#5: include reduced variation or improved predictability as service delivery enhancement/risk mgmt. Robustness is hugely important to farmers, due to importance of factors outside control (weather, commodity markets) so they’ll understand it’s not necessarily about maximizing yield. Futures can reduce uncertainty about price fluctuation.
Finally: some farmers herd cattle (or sheep). Some CEOs herd employees as if they’re cattle (or sheep). If you want to improve productivity, look at what you’re feeding them. If you force them into a little tiny stall (cubicle) and feed them crap, don’t be surprised if they get ornery and produce sour milk. If you want to be successful in the long term, you have to take care of your livestock AND make sure they’re producing what the customer wants.