The Story: Andy Norman, Argutect, Theseus and SkyMark

Dr. Andrew Norman spent nearly two decades studying human reasoning, while teaching logic, questioning, and critical thinking skills to students at Hamilton College. Along the way, he found that it was more effective to teach thinking skills directly, than it was to teach content.

In 1999, Dr. Norman joined Maya Design, in Pittsburgh, developing thinking skills workshops for financial analysts and defense department planners. Then, in 2002, he founded Knosis,and built a software “thought processor” to help analysts assemble better reports more quickly. The company filed for a patent on a unique way of embedding basic principles of logic in a graphics-oriented software application, and Knosis designed and developed “Argutect”—the world’s first graphical thinking tool with context-sensitive logic help.

Next, in 2005, came Theseus, an innovative critical thinking method that starts with a "course", and provides a software tool that you can keep using forever, to create logical thought trees that can rapidly form the basis for documents and presentations. Theseus has been enthusiastically endorsed by students and educators.

SkyMark, an early Knosis technology partner, purchased the Argutect and Theseus product lines in June, 2007, adding them to its growing lineup of software tools for creative thinking, logical thinking, decision-making, collaboration and data analysis.

Please visit SkyMark's website for the latest information.