MSG Team's other articles

11992 Why is Sweden Facing a Currency Crisis?

Sweden is not really a country that comes to find when one talks about finance or currency trading. The Swedish Krona is a relatively small and insignificant player in the global market. Trading in Swedish Krona accounts for less than 2% of the global currency trades. However, the Krona is what many call a counter […]

9398 Role of Freight Forwarding & Logistics Companies in Supply Chain Management

Global Logistics Scene is dominated by a handful of ten to twelve multinational Companies followed by smaller companies altogether numbering below fifty. Entire global trade is facilitated by these service providers. Major players in the field are lead by DHL, Kuehne + Nagel, Schenker/BAX, UPS, Geodis, Expeditors, Agility, CEVA Logistics, Hellman worldwide logistics, etc. The […]

12748 The Chinese Internet Story

Chinese firms were seldom thought of being anything apart from copies of their western counterparts. The snobbish inhabitants of Silicon Valley never thought that these companies would amount to much. However, the reality has become very different. China today has about 25% of the world’s unicorns i.e. tech startups with a valuation greater than $1 […]

12274 Advantages and Workings of DBMS

DBMS today enjoys one of the most important positions when whole IT Structure of an organization is kept into perspective. For us to know and understand how this position was achieved over the years, we need to look into the advantages this software provides to an organization. Redundancy Control: A data which is stored multiple […]

9907 Turning the Heat On: A Case Study of the Indian Solar Industry

The Reasons for the Push towards Solar in the Indian Renewable Sector Globally, there has been a push, and a movement towards renewable sources of energy given the fast depleting reserves of oil and coal as well as due to concerns over climate change and global warming brought about due to the burning of fossil […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

Although the Six Sigma process has tried to make the process of developing problem and goal statements into a science, however in reality it still remains an art. This combined with the fact that goal and problem statements go a long way into the execution of the project make it important to understand what are the components that make some statements better than the other. Here are a few tips in this regard:

Consider the Customers Point of View

Problem and goal statements that are effective are written from the customers point of view. It is important to understand that the customer here is not the customer like marketing would refer to. There are internal customers within the organization. Anyone who receives the output of the process is a customer. Project Champions that spend time in understanding the customers real needs and planning goal and problem statements accordingly do better than others.

Consider Critical To Quality Measures

The Customers point of view is important. However it is also important to understand that the customer assigns varying degree of priorities to the various needs. Hence the needs need to be prioritised and segregated. The needs that are critical to quality (CTQ) must be paid more attention to while preparing the problem and goal statements.

Use Measurements To Remove Ambiguity

Numbers tell you a story. This statement is true when it comes to six sigma. Words can be subjective. Using numbers to express the problem ensures that everyone has a similar understanding of the problem and it is not prone to numerous interpretations. Also numbers hold the key link of transitioning from the problem to the goal. The Problem is a level of the number, when it reaches another desired level it becomes a goal.

Be Concise

Problem and goal statements must be written in as few words as possible. It is common practise to write long statements full of business jargons. However, the Project champion must ensure that both these statements have the least possible jargons and are written in the fewest number of words possible.

Don’t Jump To Conclusions

A good problem statement does not imply causes, does not point fingers and does not suggest solutions. It is a problem statement, its job is to define a problem as accurately as possible. Similar is the case with goal statements. Goal statements are not meant to suggest solutions or causes. They must suggest what the state of affairs would be in ideal conditions.

Inculcating these measures will make both your problem as well as your goal statement robust and help you effectively define the purpose of your project.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Step 1: Collect and Review Primary Information

MSG Team

Step 4: Develop a Business Case for your Project

MSG Team

Project Charter – Meaning, Importance and its Elements

MSG Team