This past week was a very successful week indeed - full of signs of spring and new opportunities. A major catalyst of our excitement to bring Concentric's story to the Charleston community was the ASQ Lowcountry Quality Conference organized by our local ASQ Section 1122 volunteers. This 2-day conference featured an amazing array of speakers and Quality Professionals who gave attendees their foresight into the future commercial needs of the region. In addition to the great line-up of speakers from various industries across the spectrum, nearly half of the participants were treated to an extended tour of the new Boeing South Carolina campus. It is rare to hear a planning committee genuinely pumped up after the conference ended saying , "Count me in for planning this thing in 2014!" This statement, above all other metrics, was the most impressive indicator of a successful conference with a bright future in 2014.

Concentric was well represented during the conference. It was jokingly stated at various points throughout the conference that "Concentric has provided 7 speakers - 2 actual guest speakers, 1 on standby as a contingency plan and 4 audio speakers. (We donated our A/V equipment.) Robert Jenkins spoke about the leap that is required for an organization to jump from ISO 9001 certification to AS9100C - the latest aerospace quality management system international standards - while I spoke about a new concept I refer to as "The Management System Architect".

The Management System Architect uses stories and real life examples to introduce change agents to simple tools for the purpose of visualizing activities that take place within an organization. Like a traditional architect, the Management System Architect must put together components that ultimately satisfy the needs and expectations of the customer. Unlike a traditional architect, the Management System Architect is challenged with managing elements of an organization that can not be seen by the naked eye. Rather than physical components such as lumber, hardware and fasteners, the Management System Architect must use simple documents such as flowcharts, maps and other visual representations of action to illustrate how activities within an organization fit together.

Throughout the next several months, I encourage you to stay tuned to the progress of my first attempt at authoring a real book. The end product will be a book and a workbook. The book will be an in-depth roadmap for management system implementers and process owners on how to use twelve tools over the course of twelve months. These tools will guide "architects" as they build the fundamental framework of organizational flow and interactions. The accompanying workbook will be a supplement of dozens of downloadable tools and templates allowing you to customize the tools to fit the functions and branding of your specific operations.

We are all extremely busy. Writing a book has been on my bucket list since my mid 20's. Although I failed to make that goal by 30, there is still time to write a book by the time I'm 40. (Dr. Leah Jackman-Wheitner reminded me that just because I missed the 30-year mark, that doesn't give me an easy way out. "There's still plenty of time to write your dang book!") Like any good engineer, having deadlines, metrics and a good plan is what will drive my behavior. By adding accountability to the formula, there is nowhere to hide. I'm asking for your participation. I'd like you to help me by being my accountability partner.

Here are the major milestones: May 17th, 2013 - Management System Architect Toolbox featuring 55+ tools & templates (eWorkbook) May 31st, 2013 - Management System Architect Toolbox (Hardcopy Workbook) June 28th, 2013 - Free Chapter available for download to our blog subscribers November 30th, 2013 - Completion of First Edition of The Management System Architect (eBook) December 21st, 2013 - The Management System Architect Bundle (Hardcopy Book & Workbook with download code for eBook & eWorkbook)

As our gift to you as a subscriber, here is a link my ASQ Conference slideshow: Http://www.acommoncenter.com/architect

Do you know someone else that may be interested in following my progress? Simply forward this blog post and ask them to subscribe here: http://eepurl.com/f0Swn