About
Every enterprising group of people is first and foremost, a knowledge creating machine. Mastery of this machine is the path to creating powerful new theories and methods. This mastery creates the competitive edge that separates great organizations from those that just manage to get by by doing “good enough”.
In our new economic age, only those enterprising organizations who know how to put their knowledge machine to work to innovate, create new ideas and mew methods, can hope to prosper. It’s time to stop copying the unsound theories and methods that have driven people, businesses, and entire economies in the quicksand of rearview-mirror thinking. It’s time to get serious about putting your knowledge machine to work and start creating real value!
Three Sigma Systems is a consulting practice founded to facilitate organizational knowledge creation using a systems approach to creating and continually improving enterprise theory and methods. In business, this approach was best represented by the teachings of Dr. W. E. Deming, but the revelations of an emergent systems thinking paradigm punctuated the entire body of scientific thinking throughout the 20th Century.
Contact Three Sigma Systems for help in transforming your enterprise into a 21st Century knowledge-creating machine.
Discover How to Ride the Wave
"Knowing begins with experience but does not end in the experience in which it began." C. I. Lewis
“Marc was brought in to work with Plantronics’ Quality Management team to establish and maintain a Quality Awareness program, as we were preparing to apply for ISO-9001 registration. His innovative thinking created two extremely valuable and important deliverables which changed our corporate culture and ensured that we passed the registration audit on our first attempt. Marc set up an SOP creation system for completion of the procedures for an entire department from ground zero and developed forms which allowed the lowest-level employee to actively contribute to the project. With Marc’s help, we were able to create a culture-shifting training program concept whose elements I still use to this day. All of this was something which we could not have done without his guidance and creativity. Twenty years later, I would hire him again without question!”
Larry McElhiney, Quality Engineering Consultant
February 1, 2008
“Over the years, Carse Woodworth and Associates retained Marc’s services many times and he has always produced great results. Marc brings energy, intelligence, and commitment to any task he undertakes. I highly recommend Marc.”
Mark Volden, VP Engineering, CWA Communications
February 4, 2008
“Marc is a creative, “out of the box” business thinker who helped us craft and implement a continuous improvement process strategy for our company, QuaTeams. Through his efforts, we were able to improve our service and satisfaction level for our clients. Marc designed processes that eliminated waste and identiifed key metrics and performance indicators. Intangible benefits he brought about are systemic thinking and improved communication internally and externally.”
Jeehye Yun
April 3, 2008
“I have known Marc for years and we have met with clients, conducted seminars and written together on occasions too numerous to mention. Marc is one of the smartest people I know and brings a strong and intellectual tradition to any situation. He is one of the few true intellectuals I regularly converse with and our converstions are always interesting. His abilities in instructional design and knowledge of learning have been invaluable, and I have learned a lot from him.”
John S. Dowd, Principal, John Dowd & Associates
April 28, 2008
“Marc has combined his knowledge and experience from instructional design and management with sailing to produce an excellent series of cruising guide DVDs. Marc’s approach blends valuable how-to information about sailing with an aesthetic view of sailing’s many pleasures, mysteries, and attractions for those who love the water.”
Tory Salvia, Owner, TheSailingChannel, LLC
June 24, 2008
“Marc was outstanding to work with. I would recommend anyone that is looking to grow their business in a healthy way to bring him in.”
Brent Allen, VP Sales, QuaTeams
December 9, 2008
Marc loves to create order out of chaos. We (Interphase) had just introduced and started to manufacture a popular new product and discovered many problems relating to inadequate control of policies, procedures, bills of materials, etc. In many respects we were running “out of control”. Marc was able to quickly understand the issues and assisted me and my staff in developing methods for managing and improving manufacturing work processes at Interphase. The gains we made were substantial and the methods he shared with us have enabled us to continue making improvements. I especially liked his method of using questions to prompt us to see things in new ways. If you’re looking to reduce workplace chaos and get on the road to improvement, Marc provides the kind of outside help that quickly gets things moving. He has a unique gift of going directly to the bottom line and getting results.”
Charles Hicks, CEO, Interphase Technologies
December 29, 2008
Marc I have a question that troubles me: curious to your or John’s take.
The tree is an organic model that I find a useful device in discussing business stewardship/management. Esp. business growth for the moment.
If I plant and water (nurture) the tree, it will grow: many analogies here.
Point: imagine a big big oak tree out in a field on a hedgerow or something. You’ve seen them. Sometimes I see them in the median of Interstate hwy.
It’s a big Oak, White Oak let’s say, therefore old.
Now, growth, when measured by say change in height, is fairly rapid in its youth. It probably got 75% of its height in say first 25% of its life (say its 100 yr old).
Its grows every year of its life, but almost imperceptibly later. Its old, it wont grow alot anymore, but it is HEALTHY. In good health.
Now, I’m the manager of the tree: is there any room to admit discussion around the idea that if my work results in the tree remaining healthy that I have done well? Is there any room for the concept that trees don’t grow to the sky? Is it ever admitted as a concept that business’ growth sometimes approach a maximum asymptotically? Is there dignity in good efforts that prevent or diminish decay?
Is there an explict/implicit law in business that says business “performance” (revenue, profit, whatever) is not, can not, shall not be asymptotic?
Do business leader ever get introduced to asymptotic behaviour of a function?
I just have this vision of a CEO standing out in the field screaming at the tree to grow at X% per year and the tree can’t do that. By staying alive, is the tree disappointing the manager?
I have started but never posted, several articles on the subject of sustainability which is a problem, not of growth, but of optimization, because nothing stands still.
The aim of our efforts must be to constantly improve our system with the aim to optimize it in the long-term. This is neither synonymous with growth nor stasis. We live and act as part of a larger system and our relation within that larger system must guide our efforts at improvement. What works better at one time and place does not work better in another time and place. The challenge is never-ending.
Our current model for doing business is not working in this time and place.