Joined: 17 May 2007 Posts: 38 Location: New Iberia, La.70560
Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 9:58 pm Post subject: The Hard working Farmer
My Father once told me a story about a farmer who slowly but surely worked himself into poverty, depair and eventually to an early grave.
It seems this farmer could never keep a variety of projects going at once. If it was time to make hay he paid little attention to his cows. If he paid attention to his livestock the fences and barns fell apart. If he fixed the barns, the pastures grew up in weeds.
Everything he did became an emergency. This had a very negative effect on his well being. The farmer began early each day and worked late most of the time. He never took the weekends off and planned no vacations. If you asked him, he would tell you, can't you see how everything is falling down around here, I don't have any time to stop!
"I get the picture Dad, so what is the answer." He replied, "Think about the farmer for a while and you will know what to do." Well I'm still thinking.
Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 206 Location: Camp Verde, AZ
Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 1:40 pm Post subject: Re: The Hard working Farmer
Seems to me that some people are detail oriented and others see the big picture. The detail people work on just a few things at a time. They do them very well, but fail to see the whole process. Big picture people see the large overview of the project but miss out on the small details of how to get it done. Most people are either detail oriented or big picture people. Not too many people are equally balanced. One kind of person is not better or worse than the other kind of person.
To run a successful businesses takes both types of people. A good owner or manager needs to be a big picture person. They cast the vision, they communicate where the business is going. They see in a broad way how all the pieces fit together. Detail people are needed to fill in the gaps, to make their part work. They are responsible for their own piece of the puzzle.
In a band, the band leader is a big picture person. Each of the instrument players are detail people. The detail people are experts in their own right, they can make beautiful music with their own instrument. But, if they all played at the same time the song would sound horrible. The band director may not be able to play single note of music. This person is able to understand how the song is supposed to sound. They know when each instrument should play, when they should not, when they should play loud, and when it should be soft. The director takes all the individual band members and has them play in an orderly fashion to produce a beautiful song.
In your example the farmer is a detail person. He does each job to the best of his ability. Unfortunately he does not see the big picture of how all the pieces are interrelated. He needs to step back, look at every thing that needs done and make a priority list. Then he needs to follow the priority list. It is too late to fix the fence if all the cows have escaped and are now dead from eating toxic weeds that were growing in the hay field.
I see techs (detail people) open their own shops. They become worn out from putting out fires all day. They do not see that if they would spend some time stopping the source of the fire, and shut off the fuel, the fires would die down naturally.
As an example; in our shop we would do an oil change on a vehicle and notice that it needed an air filter. We would have to send some one to town to purchase an air filter so we could install it. We lost a hour of billable, productive, time each time someone had to go to town. We were busy all day long and tired at the end of the day. Then one day, we took an hour out of our already too busy day to figure out which air filters that we sold the most. We ordered them and put them is stock. The next day we used one of the newly stocked filters and saved ourselves an hour by not having to go to town. Now air filters are not an emergency, we have them is stock so the day goes much smoother.
A wise man once said something to the effect that as an owner his first main job was to put out fires, then he moved to putting out the source of the fires, then he moved to removing the possibility of even having a fire.
_________________ David Wittmayer
Owner / Manager
Hansen Enterprises Fleet Repair, LLC
Camp Verde, AZ
www.hefrshop.com
Joined: 17 May 2007 Posts: 38 Location: New Iberia, La.70560
Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 5:29 pm Post subject: Re: The Hard working Farmer
Hi Dave,
Quote:
Seems to me that some people are detail oriented and others see the big picture. The detail people work on just a few things at a time. They do them very well, but fail to see the whole process. Big picture people see the large overview of the project but miss out on the small details of how to get it done. Most people are either detail oriented or big picture people. Not too many people are equally balanced. One kind of person is not better or worse than the other kind of person.
What a neat way to look at this.
Quote:
To run a successful businesses takes both types of people. A good owner or manager needs to be a big picture person. They cast the vision, they communicate where the business is going. They see in a broad way how all the pieces fit together. Detail people are needed to fill in the gaps, to make their part work. They are responsible for their own piece of the puzzle.
I agree, tougher when you're the same person.
Quote:
In a band, the band leader is a big picture person. Each of the instrument players are detail people. The detail people are experts in their own right, they can make beautiful music with their own instrument. But, if they all played at the same time the song would sound horrible. The band director may not be able to play single note of music. This person is able to understand how the song is supposed to sound. They know when each instrument should play, when they should not, when they should play loud, and when it should be soft. The director takes all the individual band members and has them play in an orderly fashion to produce a beautiful song.
Excellent example that demonstrates the level and kind of cooperation between roles that people play in a system.
Quote:
I see techs (detail people) open their own shops. They become worn out from putting out fires all day. They do not see that if they would spend some time stopping the source of the fire, and shut off the fuel, the fires would die down naturally.
So many of us, in this situation, don't follow your advice. Even people like myself that spent most of our time as the big picture guy(in managemnt).
Quote:
As an example; in our shop we would do an oil change on a vehicle and notice that it needed an air filter. We would have to send some one to town to purchase an air filter so we could install it. We lost a hour of billable, productive, time each time someone had to go to town. We were busy all day long and tired at the end of the day. Then one day, we took an hour out of our already too busy day to figure out which air filters that we sold the most. We ordered them and put them is stock. The next day we used one of the newly stocked filters and saved ourselves an hour by not having to go to town. Now air filters are not an emergency, we have them is stock so the day goes much smoother.
An example I can relate to, just substitue different materials.
Dave wrote:
A wise man once said something to the effect that as an owner his first main job was to put out fires, then he moved to putting out the source of the fires, then he moved to removing the possibility of even having a fire.
Thanks for the thoughts, they certainly are appreciated and my Father would be proud of you!
Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 774 Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:58 am Post subject: Re: The Hard working Farmer
Hi Mike,
slimmv wrote:
My Father once told me a story about a farmer who slowly but surely worked himself into poverty, depair and eventually to an early grave.
It seems this farmer could never keep a variety of projects going at once. If it was time to make hay he paid little attention to his cows. If he paid attention to his livestock the fences and barns fell apart. If he fixed the barns, the pastures grew up in weeds.
Everything he did became an emergency. This had a very negative effect on his well being. The farmer began early each day and worked late most of the time. He never took the weekends off and planned no vacations. If you asked him, he would tell you, can't you see how everything is falling down around here, I don't have any time to stop!
"I get the picture Dad, so what is the answer." He replied, "Think about the farmer for a while and you will know what to do." Well I'm still thinking.
So tell me what do You think?
The farmer sounds an awful lot like me in my younger days. Today I would take at least two lessons from the story. First the farmer needs to learn to delegate. A man can accomplish so much with two hands. With his mind, there is little limit.
Second, he needs to realize that recreation [re creation of yourself?] is necessary as well as desirable. Properly done, time off and R/R is a money maker. I find a refreshed mind is far more capable than an exhausted mind and the same with the body.
I try to take a mini-vacation [weekend to four days] at least once a month and a bigger one [one to two weeks] three-times a year. I learned I make a lot more money since I started the practice and consider it a profit center.
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Today I would take at least two lessons from the story. First the farmer needs to learn to delegate. A man can accomplish so much with two hands. With his mind, there is little limit.
