Consider This... AI is the "Killer App" of IP

 Today we have another paper in the “Consider This…” series of relatively short discussions on topics of interest. This one raises several points that people in oil & gas may wish to debate. I’ve opened the blog to comments and welcome that discussion, although I encourage participants to protect their identities. We continue to attract the wrong kind of attention from producer officers and directors, and even participating in a debate could carry career consequences. Please exercise care.

I’ve been preaching the gospel of Intellectual Property as one of the primary competitive advantages of People, Ideas & Objects’ Synallagi, including its licensing through our user community and their service provider organizations. In this paper, I compare the challenge of explaining its value to the arrival of the personal computer in the 1980s.

People would ask, “What will you use it for?” Unless you were buying $1,000 databases and compilers, the answer was often “storing recipes.” We had acquired some remarkably expensive paperweights.

Then came applications such as Lotus 1-2-3, which gave businesses a compelling reason to put personal computers on their desks. The spreadsheet became a defining example of the “killer app”—an application whose usefulness made the underlying technology indispensable. Naturally, everyone also needed a computer at home to keep track of what those recipes were costing.

Many more “killer apps” followed. Our paper applies that familiar idea to Intellectual Property.

Artificial Intelligence Agents rummaging through corporate data, processes, and procedures may not seem like an immediate concern to everyone. As their reach and ability to act expand, however, the question becomes unavoidable: what defines the limits of their authority?

“Consider This…” proposes that Artificial Intelligence is the “killer app” of Intellectual Property. The business definitions, rules, and institutional arrangements embodied in that Intellectual Property provide the basis for constraining an Agent’s authority, scope, and scale of action. Those constraints must then be implemented and enforced in the software. This is particularly consequential in Enterprise Resource Planning, and central to the development we are undertaking.

We extend this argument to Autonomous Asynchronous Transaction Orchestration in Synallagi. Orchestration is the part that deserves closer attention. A transaction requires more than the ability to interpret information. Who is involved? Who may access the data? What authority does each participant hold? Who can approve the transaction? What must happen before it proceeds?

These questions lead to many more as we account for the unique requirements of oil & gas and implement them in Synallagi. Intellectual Property defines. Artificial Intelligence interprets. Orchestration acts.

Orchestration is the traffic cop, the lights at intersections, the paved roads, and the speed limits that keep us somewhat civilized. It coordinates how a transaction proceeds through the participants, permissions, approvals, and other requirements that give it business meaning.

The paper is available here. Over the next few days, I’ll also publish its sections as individual blog posts, adding to the pile of recipes I’ve been accumulating here for some time.

A podcast will follow—if I can teach Artificial Intelligence to pronounce Synallagi. At this stage, it is almost comical: a different pronunciation every time, and never the right one. I’ve tried explaining that it rhymes with “technology” or “philosophy.” Apparently, we may need to begin with what “rhymes” means.

A New Year

 People, Ideas & Objects had a good year in 2023, and since November, we documented approximately $4 trillion in lost natural gas revenues due to producer officers and directors' mismanagement. This validates the Preliminary Specification value proposition and proves our hypothesis, and is now the only method for North American producers to create future value. Their ability to close the price gap between North American and global natural gas prices hinges on the Preliminary Specifications decentralized production model's price maker strategy to enforce production discipline. Without it, they're producing gas at a loss for the century. From Henry Kissinger's 2022 book "Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy."

Looking forward, the scope and scale of the difficulties and the amount of financial destruction being authored by North American producers continues. Recently Reuters Lee Cibis wrote.

Digitalization has the potential to unlock up to $2.6 trillion worth of revenue in the oil & gas sector by 2025. Upstream leaders and service providers alike need to keep up to date on the digital developments to seize this opportunity for increased production efficiencies and profits.  

Digitalization, trillions and profits are words that may cause Ms. Cibis difficulties, although I appreciate the company. Reuters calculations are going to be global for both oil & gas whereas ours focus on North America and natural gas for the period 2007 to present. 

Since we have revised the Preliminary Specification and we're now focused on the future we will blog less frequently in 2024 and we’ll be publishing more on X. Expect two blog posts weekly, Monday and Wednesday at 7:30 AM Eastern time. 

Our need for more time to enhance the firm's research capabilities causes our drop in publications. Last year, I investigated hyper specialization in service provider organizations and strategies to address related issues. We will accompany our recommendations with conclusions once the research is complete, expected in 2024. People, Ideas & Objects acknowledges our limited influence on the complexity of developing service providers. The market's invisible hand provides this, aligning with our philosophy. Our research aims to review and advise on service provider development only, leaving it to the market otherwise. Preparing and organizing our research, our third competitive advantage, requires time and precedes any output.

We found one issue: the vast number of research projects we need to undertake. We are evaluating tools and methods to manage the abundant information more efficiently and start adding value to the dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil & gas producer—a task that will yield results in the future.

We discovered something valuable to enhance our user community vision. Examining ChatGPT 4.0 reveals a clear difference between two user classes. The Preliminary Specifications user community vision suggests the need for Intellectual Property (IP) rights to support gainful employment, obtained through education and experience, and one of three IP access levels. First, outright ownership of IP, such as copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets. Second, licensed access to others' IP via contracts. Third, employment with a firm owning or licensed to use IP. These tiers are prevalent across People, Ideas & Objects, our user community, and their service providers.

Custom instructions of Preliminary Specifications Intellectual Property enhances ChatGPT Large Language Model (LLM) for our user community and service providers, increasing the value of their work and the IP of People, Ideas & Objects. We plan to include not just the blog and wiki content but the entire user community's documentation in our software development. This will encompass developers' code and Oracle Cloud ERP tool documentation, enabling our community to iterate faster and quickly find answers to complex questions that might otherwise have been missed or neglected. ChatGPT and our LLM bring together the comprehensive details of this knowledge for our user community and service provider organizations. A fallout consequence of IP being a foundation of AI is that the focus will remain within the domain of concern. Limiting the distractions and unnecessary diversions. At the same time unlicensed access to this IP will fall under the copyright provisions. Fair use will allow ChatGPT to use however none of it will be publishable or otherwise usable of our user community.

ChatGPT’s progress promises many benefits in the future. Leveraging these technologies will benefit our user community. Moreover, I use over half a dozen apps that employ AI to gather vast information based on their features. The Preliminary Specification includes an Artificial Intelligence module designed to steer industry efforts towards productive AI. Focusing the resources of industry on one shared resource and spreading the costs per boe produced. Oracle's late 2022 automation initiative prompted our rewrite of the Preliminary Specification, followed by their significant Generative AI capabilities in 2023. We have integrated these into the Preliminary Specification. AI is here to stay, and its value will increase with use. It’s currently receiving a lot of attention, like the .com bubble, and may just be as consequential as the Internet.

A Not So Friendly Warning!

 Attention: Producer Officers and Directors. 

On several occasions People, Ideas & Objects have advised producers that the use of our Intellectual Property in any way is unauthorized and forbidden. That although copyright is the law we find its use in the political realm more valuable and have chosen to apply it in that context. Political in the sense that upstanding law-abiding corporate citizens would not violate or take others' property. And no software company diminishes the use and value of another software firm's Intellectual Property. Since the 1990s this environment has become firmly established in the North American marketplace. We've participated in the development and protection of our Intellectual Property on this basis. We’ll now move forward based on Intellectual Property's legal aspects.

People, Ideas & Objects advised on four occasions that our Intellectual Property was forbidden. We are currently witnessing a fifth example that began in 2017 and has been ongoing since then. This is after we’ve noted the producers' prior involvement in Intellectual Property development that violates our work and informed them of our claims. We advise any and all participating producers to cease and desist immediately and seek a retroactive, compensatory license for this additional breach. 

In each instance the violation begins as a collaborative effort among producers seeking to enhance the industry's innovation, performance or other criteria. These collaborative efforts gain momentum and soon reach a conclusion. The conclusion is that the Joint Operating Committee will be the source of performance and innovation, whatever it is the collaboration seeks. The first instance of this was in April 2004 and continued with a second event in 2007, a third in October 2013 and the fourth in 2014. As stated, the current breach started in 2017 with the overt objective of producers working together to meet production and profitability goals. I’m paraphrasing here. Our next two blog posts will document the actions we’re taking to remedy these issues. Producers must immediately cease and desist in using our Intellectual Property.

As these dates show, People, Ideas & Objects discussed the benefits of Oracle Cloud ERP packaged into Cloud Administration & Accounting for Oil & Gas. This was throughout our research, development and iterative improvements of the Preliminary Specification, our user community, and service provider organizations. Elsewhere officers and directors were actively looking to disparage our efforts in the market while figuring out a method of claiming our Intellectual Property. The third aspect of their actions that officers and directors may not have considered. These failed attempts have only proven that they lack this intellectual property. What People, Ideas & Objects express in our blog and wiki are valid and workable ideas. Officers and directors are only concerned with maintaining control, their own skin and method of personal aggrandizement method. 

And this point cannot be argued today. The contrast and conflict in our claims are further supported by additional evidence. People, Ideas & Objects began with our research proposal in August 2003 and our Preliminary Research Report in May 2004. Since that time we have been researching the development of what the industry would look like if this were the case. We have also researched how it should be structured and why. We know that our August 2003 research proposal precipitated the first instance of the other firm's April 2004 research proposal. This was a month before our Preliminary Research Report was published in May 2004. And we see a similar timing pattern with the publication of the Preliminary Specification in 2012 with two separate events occurring in 2013 and 2014. The irony is that I was looking for $750,000 in August 2003 to conduct research on behalf of the industry. Producers would have owned the copyright! The response was repeatedly that “we don’t hire small research firms.” And in May 2004 when we published the Preliminary Research Report, the only question, once again repeatedly was “who paid for this research?"

An incremental conflict and contrast shows the validity of our Intellectual Property claims. Since August 2003, twenty years ago. The industry has fallen into shambles. Fundamentally destroyed and all the value built in prior generations, all the value of investors who were duped into investing through accounting that misrepresented the state of affairs. All oil & gas production during this period has generated no residual value. It's all waste. These were the issues raised and discussed repeatedly throughout our writings. It was the issue we sought to resolve and mitigate with sound business practices and common sense since August 2003. Which the Preliminary Specification et al. provides. We were accused of collusion, being crazy and that the system didn't work. That our claims of value generation were nothing more than opportunity costs. In my defense twenty years later, I’m sure every investor of that vintage would love to have their damages exchanged back into opportunity costs. 

They say patience is a virtue. I have been patient with the producers. As we all have. What redeeming quality is expressed today in the performance, viability and future of North American oil & gas? Unsupported capital structures of producers and service industries. Technical resource constraints only become more pronounced each year. Science becomes more complex and the capacity and capabilities to conduct operations slip away from those with authority and responsibility. Based on second quarter earnings reports, not a word about this rapidly declining capacity and capability. Who do officers and directors think will build the next drilling rig after what they did to the service industries in the past decade? Their “muddle through” is a comprehensive and complete failure.

Why have I not been able to perform when the obstruction to my performance is this incompetent, self-interested and derelict? 

Questions to ask our good friends, the officers and directors of the producer firms.

During the twenty years before today?

• How much investor cash has been raised?
• How much value did natural gas production lose while trading above 6 to 1?
• How much value did oil production lose while trading below cost, or negative prices?
• How much executive compensation was granted?
• How much creative and innovative executive compensation was granted?
• How much overhead was incurred by officers and directors, then capitalized?
• How much overhead in general is capitalized? Why?
• Who is willing to say they trust oil & gas officers and directors?
• Who is willing to say they have faith in oil & gas officers and directors?
• Who is willing to say oil & gas officers and directors have integrity?
• How much goodwill exists between officers and directors vs others in the industry?
• Who believes the officers and directors will do the right thing?
• What is the vision for the future and how will we get there? Is silence and shrugs enough?
• Will the current culture of oil & gas change when this leadership exists?
• Who has the appropriate solution for the issues of today?

Just to state again. Mondays and Tuesdays posts will describe the actions People, Ideas & Objects will now take. Make sure you have a look, I’m sure everyone will appreciate them. 

Intellectual Property, as a Competitive Advantage

People, Ideas & Objects have always used Intellectual Property (IP) as a competitive advantage of everything that we do. It is IP in addition to our user community and research that form our complete competitive offering. This is due to my personal belief that every industry will be operated and controlled through software in the very near future. Software is derived from IP and this fact is the source of conflict that we all know as disintermediation. In oil and gas, it’s not enough to own the oil and gas asset, it’s also necessary to have access to the software that makes the oil and gas asset profitable. This can now be done through implementation of People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification. That is unless the bureaucrats have some secret plan that they’ve been working on that no one knows about. It appears however that they have nothing as it seems it’s well past the time to have invoked that plan in order to save their souls. I think they’re allergic to action.

Intellectual Property has an interesting challenge to its value in the U.S. Supreme Court. This case will be heard some time prior to October 2020 as it was initially scheduled to be heard in late March 2020. The case is Google vs. Oracle and it involves the use by Google of Oracle’s Java Programming Language in the Android phones and tablets. It is my opinion that this was a direct theft as there was little opportunity for Google to do anything else. Apple was selling the iPhone and had established a lucrative market. Eric Schmidt the CEO of Google was kicked off the Apple board for knowing of the iPhones development and replicating it in Google. The problem however for Google was the operating system. The iPhone used the derivative works of Steve Jobs NeXT developments that had been carried on consistently since the mid 1980’s. The depth and breadth of the system was capable of making the phone fully featured in the marketplace at that time. The only other system that was of equal pedigree in terms of the robustness and capabilities was Sun Microsystems Java which had also begun developments in the very early 1990’s. Google was faced with either creating their own Android system from scratch which would have taken at least the better part of a decade. Or licensing Java, which they did enter into negotiations to do so, with Oracle but backed out of signing. This was also around the time that Google dropped their “don’t be evil” by-line. Java has been licensed by every major provider other than Google. Therefore what Google did was copy critical parts of Java and built Android around that. 

In 2010 Oracle sued of course but lost by unanimous jury verdict which determined that the “fair use” doctrine applied to Google’s use of Java. Fair use does not include the ability to earn revenues from someone else's copyrighted material. The jury was confused by the technical aspects of the case and were unable to determine what the outcome should be. Oracle appealed the ruling and won, which Google then appealed and lost providing Oracle with the latest victory in this case. Google then appealed to the Supreme Court and were initially turned down, however tried again and were successful in having their case heard, which is what will happen this summer. The friend of the court filings are somewhat decidedly in favor of Oracle as theirs is the case that is consistent with the law. And the methods of which the U.S. economy has developed. The altruistic developers believe Oracle should allow the Java code to be free, yet continue to refuse my offers to work for free. It’s also interesting to read Microsoft’s friend of the court submission supporting Google’s position. Claiming that they’ve always been an innovative provider makes me chuckle. Without the work of others Microsoft would not have any products at all. Their comment on page 3 of their Amicus Brief shows this will be their competitive strategy for the future. From the document.

For example Microsoft has for several years been the most active corporate maintainer of open-source projects on GitHub, the leading collaborative software development platform, which Microsoft acquired in 2018. Microsoft also implements APIs from the open-source community in its Windows and Azure products. Similarly, third parties implement Microsoft APIs in their products to enable compatibility and interoperability. Microsoft thus has a profound interest in ensuring the Court appreciates how innovation in today’s computer industry is impacted by the copyright issues presented in this case. 

Reading this makes me think that the developers that store their code on GitHub are doing so in order for Microsoft to have direct access to their “innovations.” The one fly in the ointment in this case is that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has asked, somewhat forcefully, that an answer to the seventh amendment be responded to in addition to the copyright issue. The seventh amendment only applies to government. And is designed to protect Americans from overt bias in any government civil litigation of individuals. Or in other words, protects us from government tyranny by ensuring a jury of our peers could decide the outcome of their case. How that applies in the Google vs Oracle case is unknown to me and why he’s asking the question indicates that overturning the jury trial would be considered against the seventh amendment. Which would seriously diminish the value of copyright and the means in which the United States has been able to generate their economic capability and development. Both Apple and Oracle, or Sun, spent many years and hundreds of millions of dollars developing these phone platforms. If investors see that these investments are not protected there will be no further developments in innovation. Therefore I believe that the case will be seen to support the appeal court rulings in Oracle’s favour. We’ll soon see. 

The outcome of this supreme Court decision will have direct implications to People, Ideas & Objects and the oil and gas industry directly. The issue comes down to copyright law and the meaning of fair use vs, the seventh amendment and the right of individuals to have a trial jury in civil cases upheld in the courts. Although that is what the Chief Justice has solicited responses for, that I believe is just a red herring as the government is not involved in the initial case of Oracle vs. Google. 

That’s the law. Which is a cornerstone of our Intellectual Properties competitive advantage. However, that is only one of many elements that we see the use of IP being applied here in the oil and gas ERP market space. I feel the most valuable aspect of IP is not the law itself, it is the political application of it. The law provides you with the right, however that is not a static position. Copyright provides you with a monopoly on the expression of an idea. Therefore it is necessary to continue to build on the original idea of the copyright, which in our case is the use of the Joint Operating Committee as the key organizational construct of the dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry. Therefore our use of our copyright, as is the case for Apple and Oracle, is not hanging on the discovery of an idea from a long time ago, it is due to the fact that the evolution of, and most importantly, the research that is undertaken to take the idea and put it into a useable commercial product. Saying that the Joint Operating Committee is the key organizational construct of the dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry does nothing for anyone, the Preliminary Specification does, and subsequently the software that is derived from that will be very valuable to all concerned. It is the legal protection of this long development period that is necessary to build out the ideas into useful frameworks. The potential of having this value poached by competitors circumvents the investment in the research. The legal protection is necessary in order to protect the process of turning the idea into value, which is necessary for everyone to progress.

It is in this line of thinking that the legal and political protection of my IP would be consistent either way the Supreme Court rules. If the court upholds Google's claim then my competitors are still facing the minimum of a decades investment in order to develop their framework. However that would be without the protection of copyright and subject to “competitive sharing,” should I say. An untenable situation. One in which no one would be able to fund the research as the risk would be unrewarded. We are in the market and moving forward with our plans and the oil and gas industry is in desperate need for the Preliminary Specification, yesterday. Alternatives will take a significant amount of time to move to the level that we’ve attained. Producers don’t have that much cash. We are beyond the demands of IP’s legal protections and rely more on the political and commercial needs of the situation that has developed as a result of the work that we did when these legal protections were our preeminent method of protection. 

The Preliminary Specification, our user community and service providers provide for a dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas industry with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Setting the foundation for profitable North American energy independence. People, Ideas & Objects have published a white paper “Profitable, North American Energy Independence -- Through the Commercialization of Shale.” that captures the vision of the Preliminary Specification and our actions. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don’t forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 587-735-2302 in Calgary or 713-965-6720 in Houston or email here.

Money and Power, Part III

Members of our user community have the power to ensure that society is provided with the energy resources it needs. This power is obtained through the licensing and control of the Intellectual Property of the Preliminary Specification and its derivative works. With this in hand the user community is able to implement the policies and procedures within the industry to manage it on the basis of providing the producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. They are also able to make the necessary changes to those policies and procedures, and the business model, to ensure that the industry maintains its competitive and profitable stature.  This is not your grandfathers user community. Participation doesn’t denote endless ceremonial attendance at useless mandatory meetings. It means that you are the one with the power to make the industry operate. This is why the bureaucrats love us so much. The manner in which we are structured here renders the bureaucrats power and influence in the industry to the ash heap of history.

The Intellectual Property is comprised of the Preliminary Specification, any of the other information contained on the wiki, and the ten years of research contained on this blog. These are what will be the base of the user communities work. It is the business model. Our budget will fund the user communities determination of what and how each process will need to be in order for it to be developed by our developers. This is the critical detailed work needed to fill in the gaps of how the industry actually operates. How people do their jobs and what they actually do. This work, however, will be unique in that it will be under the basis of the Preliminary Specifications new business model where service providers will be using the software and providing the services to the producers. A fundamentally different way of organizing the industry. Providing producers with unlimited flexibility in their operations.

I am the beneficial owner of the copyright of the Preliminary Specification and all that is contained within the blog and wiki. That provides me with the ability, through licensing, to control the development and ownership of the derivative works. The user community is paid by People, Ideas & Objects for the work that is done during our development, and the service providers will earn revenues that are a replacement of the producers current G&A costs. Two significant revenue streams, and since service providers will be owned by user community participants, a significant business opportunity for those that have contributed to this community.

The licensing of the Intellectual Property works on the basis that I pay for your work which in turn earns me your copyright and I add this to the overall Intellectual Property. The licensing then grants the user community participant with access to all of the Intellectual Property in an unencumbered manner. It is in this way that I am able to use the Intellectual Property to raise the initial budget, and subsequent annual funds needed to support these communities. Without this licensing mechanism the producers would be subject to licensing from a large population of the user community. And members of the user community would be subject to significant cross licensing requirements within the community. An otherwise unworkable situation. In turn user community participants can look forward to building a business on the basis of participating in the user community and managing their own service provider where they provide the People, Ideas & Objects software and their services to their profitable oil and gas producer clients.

The larger point of this blog post regarding licensing is to ensure that the user community has the power to affect change. If change is needed only the user community needs to be addressed. People, Ideas & Objects will only ever send invoices for the costs of development and the user community to the producers. We do not, and never will have any Service Level Agreements. If producers require anything contained in the Preliminary Specification or its derivative works they have only one community in which to talk to. The user community. It is there they will find the people who are able, willing and empowered to make the software and the services work for the dynamic, innovative, accountable and profitable oil and gas producers. People, Ideas & Objects are a dedicated software development capability provided exclusively to the user community.

The Preliminary Specification and user community provides the oil and gas producer with the most dynamic, innovative, profitable and successful means of oil and gas operations. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don't forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

Copyright is the Glue That Hold Everything Together

The other day we noted that the service providers would have the exclusive rights to manage their process. That there would be no competition in terms of other firms providing the same processes management. The manner in which service providers compete is on the basis of specialization and the division of labor. The way that we ensure that no direct competition is generated for the service provider is that each service provider is licensed in terms of its access to the underlying Intellectual Property based on our copyright and of course by way of access to our software to manage the process. The copyright in this case also precludes others from operating within the service providers field of operation. There are many other ways that the copyright is used throughout the People, Ideas & Objects environment that makes up the Preliminary Specification, the user community and service providers. This post will touch on those areas and give a brief overview of the manner in which the copyright is used.

I am the beneficial owner of the copyright that defines the Preliminary Specification and the contents of this blog. These ideas form the Intellectual Property contained within this ecosystem. It is on the basis of the ownership of this IP that I am able to, eventually, raise the revenue from the producer firm to support our budget. Our budget includes the cost of our developers and pays for the time of the user community. Service provider revenues are sourced from the producers directly as the replacement to their current G&A costs. This is the flow of money in this ecosystem. It is important to establish this flow as it also details the flow of the ownership of the Intellectual Property.

The first thing that is necessary is to grant a license from myself to People, Ideas & Objects for them to prepare derivative works of the Preliminary Specification and the ideas contained here in this blog. This will be in the form of software code and will be, through the license, renounced back to me as I will be the one paying for the development of the software. The user community operates in the same manner. Since they are paid for their work, the Intellectual Property that is generated flows back to me and becomes part of the total IP consisting of software code and other input. This is important as each user community participant and developer are granted within the license the right to access and prepare derivative works from this Intellectual Property. What would be unworkable would be the entire community making IP claims to their contributions as their Intellectual Property and then having to cross license each others contributions. The method that we are using in this community allows access for those that are licensed to these developments all of the necessary access and use that they need to do their work.

The user community participant is also a key member of each individual service provider. And therefore they have the rights through a specific license to manage a specific process. This license is an end user license that governs the use of the software. It is in the service providers where the user community participants will earn the majority of their capital appreciation and earnings. The user community participant also earns money for their time and effort with our developers, however building a service provider organization provides them with the opportunity to build real long term value for themselves.

It is the nature of Intellectual Property that the oil and gas industry has ignored for the better part of this century. And as a result they have lost large portions of it to initiatives such as People, Ideas & Objects. It will be the case in this century that you will need Intellectual Property in some form in order to do your work. You will have to own it outright. You will have to have a license in which to access some IP, such as the user community participant and their service provider firms. Or you will have to have access to it through your employer, such as a service provider. One of these methods will be the only way in which you will be able to work in whatever industry you choose to work in. That of course is my opinion. And we already see this happening with the proliferation of end user license agreements, etc.

One of the reasons for the Intellectual Property becoming so prevalent in the future is its ability to hold communities together. In our case it is the glue that enables the user community to do their work. That authorizes their management of the process. And precludes those from working against the interests of those that have contributed to this community and therefore have earned some rights and capabilities that are a part of the communities offering. One of the things that the bureaucrats were notorious for was to take the Intellectual Property and capabilities of a service based firm and freely pass these among their competition and sponsor several “me-to” competitors. That’s not going to happen in this environment. You will be protected as a user community member by the license that is granted to you in the process of joining the user community and contributing. It is important to note not everyone will be granted a license and only user community participants in good standing will be able to establish service providers. Since the service providers are a new sub-industry there will be large numbers of these formed. The population of user community participants in the budget have been specified at 3,000. Recall that we expect that service providers will be taking the load of the G&A of the industry which we estimate to be a large portion of the current $40 to 60 billion in G&A costs of the North American producers. Taking a rough average then, a service provider would generate $10 million per year in revenues.

The Preliminary Specification and user community provides the oil and gas producer with the most dynamic, innovative, profitable and successful means of oil and gas operations. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don't forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

The Absolute Power of the User Community

We commented in our last post that the People, Ideas & Objects user community was unlike anything your grandfathers user community was like. Those were formed to usually report on some preconceived notion of what a systems development would be. From there people would usually meet to shuffle some papers and make a final recommendation that was hastily filed away for no one to read. At least that is the way that I saw most of the user communities over the past few decades. The problem with user communities, in terms of implementing them appropriately, is they are very expensive and time consuming. So if you're going to have one you need to commit these resources in order to earn the benefits. In the past no one wanted to lose control of their budget so they formed the user community without the commitment necessary in terms of time and budget. This post is to explain the key differences between the People, Ideas & Objects user community and these poor excuses from our past.

Granted the first contradiction I have to make is that the user community is using the Preliminary Specification as the base of their developments. This vision is the result of ten years of my research and provides the dynamic, innovative and profitable oil and gas producer with the ways and means in which to operate. It is a start, and that is where the user community can begin its building process.

The second element is that we have committed a large portion of our development costs to the user communities use. These have been costed at $333 to $667 million and represent 1,000 to 2,000 man years of development time. These will be incurred during the time from January 2017 to the initial commercial release of the People, Ideas & Objects software. January 2017 is the timeframe in our plan that we expect industry to fund our project. These are also only the initial development funds. The user community will be funded at approximately these levels on a continuous basis, as a going concern. These funds are derived from People, Ideas & Objects and are raised through our efforts.

The third element is the user community is the source for the industries needs for changes in their systems. When the oil and gas producers need changes to the systems and procedures that they use. The only place they can turn to will be the user community. The user community has as their audience the producer firms and the service providers that provide accounting and administrative services to the producer firms. There is no one else that has the capabilities to deal with the systems and producers other than the user community. The only people that the developers from People, Ideas & Objects will listen to are the user community. It is user community who have sole control over the makeup of what is contained in the software and the processes that are managed in the administrative and accounting domain of an oil and gas producer.

The fourth element is with regards to the Intellectual Property that is derived from the Preliminary Specification. I am the beneficial owner of the copyright of the Preliminary Specification. Through a license to People, Ideas & Objects I provide certain rights and privileges. It is through there that another license is provided to the user community and then on to the individuals within the user community. The purpose of these licenses is to ensure that all the developments to the Preliminary Specification are kept whole and available to everyone. Therefore the Intellectual Property that is developed in the user community is owned through these licenses by myself. And in turn through the licensing, available to everyone within the user community. This Intellectual Property is therefore available in its entirety without charge or encumbrance to everyone within the user community. The money that is paid to support the user community by People, Ideas & Objects is compensation in acquiring this Intellectual Property of the user community.

However, it is the user community that controls that Intellectual Property for the benefit of the oil and gas producers and the service providers. It is through this control of the Intellectual Property, which they acquire through the license, that they acquire the power that is necessary to ensure that the industry remain dynamic, innovative and profitable. It is through this control that the user community affects change within the service providers, of which the user community members are an integral part of.

Lastly, People, Ideas & Objects uses the Intellectual Property to assess the fees on industry to develop the software and support the user community. The service providers are able to raise their own revenues from the services they provide the producer firms. However that too is through a license which is granted from People, Ideas & Objects.

It is through the budget, the control of the Intellectual Property and the user community being the sole point of contact that make the People, Ideas & Objects user community different than any other user community that came before it. These differences provide it with the power necessary to effectively control the ways and means of the North American oil and gas industry. Providing it with the focus on its dynamic, innovative and profitable nature. People, Ideas & Objects are committed to user community developments. We completed the Preliminary Specification in November 2013. Since January of this year our primary focus has been the user communities development. We have endowed it with these capabilities and with this power. I think we are beginning to look rather interesting, don't you?

The Preliminary Specification and user community provides the oil and gas producer with the most dynamic, innovative and profitable means of oil and gas operations. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don't forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

Busted Again

We have evidence of the bureaucracy attempting to circumvent the Intellectual Property that makes up People, Ideas & Objects, the user community and the servicer providers, again. We went through this just in October 2013 with Ernst & Young and here we are again. This time its with The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and the author of the paper is, not surprisingly I guess, a Senior Partner at Ernst & Young. So although Ernst & Young stated that they would not be publishing the document that they had, that does not necessarily apply to any of their staff. I have been in contact with the Oxford Institute and informed them of the copyright and I am awaiting their reply.

The important thing in these copyright claims is to frame the issue correctly. That although The Oxford Institute paper does not address the organizational construct necessary to undertake all of the changes. That can be introduced in a subsequent paper. What the industry is doing is reverse engineering our work by starting with the effects of the breakthrough of using the Joint Operating Committee, and then working their way back to that conclusion. It will be in that way, using their logic, that they will be able to use our ideas as theirs. The fact that I took ten hard years of research after the breakthrough of using the Joint Operating Committee isn't relevant to them. This is why the industries costs are so high. If after 10 years of hard work you risk having your customer steal your work, no wonder no one is willing to do the hard work of innovating.

And its not like industry is going to begin the process of herding cats or writing software code. That is the last thing that they want to happen. They just want to have a plan in which they go to the investment community and say “here, we have a plan.” They will never proceed with any aspect of the Preliminary Specification with People, Ideas & Objects, the user community or service providers and they certainly wouldn't do it if they had the idea themselves. Things are too comfortable for them to be bothered with work. What they need to do is give the appearance of working at the problems of the day and buy time. Time in which they earn their paychecks and shuffle the papers.

So it comes down to a communication issue for People, Ideas & Objects, the user community and the service providers. One to make sure that the industry does not have the right, or alleged right to claim to have any plan to deal with low natural gas prices or the performance of the industry. That our claim of providing the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations is the only competing vision to the existence of the bureaucracy. That they the bureaucracy can’t muddy the water with a vision that competes with ours, because it is ours, and turns people away from us with an attitude of “let's give the bureaucracy one more chance.”

So we will continue to pick off any of these attempts to take our Intellectual Property and compromise it. This is how the industry, a three and one half trillion dollar industry chooses to compete. By theft. The real problem is they don't see it this way. And they don't see it this way because it has become so mainstream in the manner in which they operate. Ideas are intended to be stolen and too bad for the fool who came up with the idea. These are also the rules that govern recess in grade two. Unfortunately for the bureaucracy its the 21st century and Intellectual Property is the way in which most industries operate. The fact that they left their flank open to someone to come along and take it, is their problem. My problem is having to deal with these pesky little thieves.

The Preliminary Specification provides the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don't forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here. 

Update on Some Industry Activities

It would seem that some people are pretty thick. This post is directed at those individuals who are continuing with their activities that are counter to our Intellectual Property interests. We discussed in late October some of the industry actions regarding a group hiring Ernst & Young to conduct a study. Since that time the E&Y study has been pulled, as far as I can tell. However, that doesn't seem to have stopped those that originally hired E&Y. In a separate blog post entitled “Copyright Notice” on October 29, 2013. I provided notice to the officers and directors of the oil and gas producers. And noted their futility in pursuing any efforts that violated my Intellectual Property. Specifically noting that these are the Intellectual Property of myself and that they are lawful corporations.

It would seem to me that it is necessary to spell out some of the other implications of continuing on the path they are without People, Ideas & Objects, its user community, and the service providers that are part of the solutions detailed here. And those implications are to do with the software companies that may be selected to work with these individuals on these ideas that are the property of myself. If these individuals should select Oracle or SAP without the Intellectual Property secured, would Oracle or SAP go along? Seeing the deficiencies in their claim of ownership of the ideas that they want to develop, and Oracle and SAP’s reliance on the Intellectual Property laws that these individuals so freely breach. Will Oracle or SAP so willingly go along with an effort that really only compromises their own assets. Compromises them in that a challenge to the Intellectual Property laws is a challenge to all who use those laws. And would Oracle or SAP be complicit in the breach by participating with these individuals developments?

Secondly if a local software provider were selected to avoid the above concerns would they be able to raise the capital necessary on the markets to fund the developments? If the local software developer was unable to rely on the Intellectual Property that they are developing then they would have no asset in which to leverage in the investor marketplace. They would be wholly dependent on the producers for their revenue stream. This is consistent with the revenue model that we have established in People, Ideas & Objects. Our revenue model establishes this method due to the fact that the oil and gas producers, as a market for ERP systems, is extremely small.

Lastly if these individuals were to continue with their current plans and defied the IP laws for the foreseeable future and produced a workable solution. What producer would use the application that glowed radioactive in terms of its use. Any use by any producer would subject them to litigation for the violation of the Intellectual Property that these individuals so carelessly refuse to recognize. In any scenario you must uphold the law. It is the 21st century and the Intellectual Property laws have matured. It is time to come out of the dark ages.

For the industry to have the IP that currently resides with me provides them with no strategic competitive advantage. It is however the competitive advantage that is used by People, Ideas & Objects, the user community and our service providers. Daily use of this Intellectual Property by these people is necessary to conduct their jobs in providing the software and services to the oil and gas producers. Providing the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. People who wish to compete with us will be required to establish their own Intellectual Property. This community has its own property and will be mindful of any abuse by others.

The Preliminary Specification provides the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don't forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz

Copyright Notice

It would seem to me to be more productive to just develop the Preliminary Specification and forget about these politics and fighting with Goliath. Pretty naive eh? This is a follow on post to the one entitled “Three Times Lucky?” This copyright notice deals with the law and political facts of copyright law and the implications regarding those laws.

The Preliminary Specification, the innovation in oil and gas blog of which you are reading this, the Preliminary Research Report and other material are the Intellectual Property (IP) of Paul D. Cox. This IP has been developed at significant cost with the expressed purpose to provide the oil and gas industry with solutions to the industries issues. They are not to be used in any other form or manner other than what I deem is appropriate. All of my efforts have been to develop the marketplace for these ideas, and to help the oil and gas producer through the IP that is developed here. The laws of the countries in which we operate support these actions. Any unauthorized use of these ideas is forbidden.

I therefore place the CEO’s, CFO’s, COO’s, Officers and Directors of all of the oil and gas producers that are operating in the Canadian and United States jurisdictions on notice that any unauthorized use of my Intellectual Property is forbidden. These copyright laws are established laws, and you are lawful corporations. And yes, this notice does extend explicitly to those participants, past and present, of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers CIO Committee. The law applies to you as well.

Consumers of the Android operating system could care less that Google has violated Oracle's Java Developer Kit. Producers who invest millions in their ERP system will conduct significant due diligence to ensure their vendors Intellectual Property claims are valid.

The Preliminary Specification provides the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy.

Three Times Lucky?

We need to take a quick break from the Research & Capabilities module to take care of some housekeeping duties.

Goliath has made the first move! Goliath is the name that I’m going to start calling the oil and gas bureaucracy. It makes them more human and puts our battle into context. Anyway it was just a matter of time before we started mixing it up. With the Preliminary Specifications decentralized production model providing $94 billion in additional revenues and profits to the oil and gas producers. Goliath wasn't looking all that attractive. Goliath needed to do something before these ideas became too prevalent in the marketplace. So now Goliath has acted and he put another pawn in place, and its Ernst & Young. Let me be the first to welcome them and to note that they join an esteemed cohort. Previous pawns included Cambridge Energy Research Associates and McKinsey Consulting. So they should honestly consider themselves privileged.

What Goliath does is he hires these firms and has them prepare some research that replicates certain elements of the Preliminary Specification, as in the Ernst & Young case, or other research of People, Ideas & Objects. Note that their research or studies are derivative of my Intellectual Property of which I am the copyright holder. They, the pawns, then proceed to publish the material as if they have some breakthrough in terms of oil and gas understanding. But then I call. Then its not so earth shattering when we compare notes. The fact that Ernst & Young has published a study that is surprisingly similar to the decentralized production model. That they pull this miraculously out of thin air. That this is highly inconsistent with the output of a big audit firm and their past papers. Makes Ernst & Young look poorly and Goliath should be ashamed of himself. Ernst & Young, who I believe understands the Intellectual Property laws, doesn’t appear however to share Cambridge's or McKinsey moral and ethical backbone.

The first mention of the decentralized production model in this blog is in January 5, 2007. You can check for yourself. The development of the idea obviously took a few years, but then I’m not as smart as those guys at Ernst & Young. The fact that both of us have topical solutions to the industries problems, at the same time, is the point. But wait, People, Ideas & Objects are a comprehensive software and service offering, and Ernst & Young are a study! Well maybe I’m not that slow after all.

The bigger picture here is that Goliath is not that well. He is old, tired and doesn’t have that much usable life in front of him. I don’t know what his exact medical issues are but there seems to be a lot of medical people around him at all times. Its understandable that he is fighting for his life. Like other bureaucracies that are faced with their ultimate demise as a result of Information Technologies, they can’t sustain too much more of a beating. As I said $94 billion in opportunity costs for 2012 alone is a distinct value proposition that People, Ideas & Objects provides the oil and gas industry. Goliath can’t sit there and do nothing in the face of such obvious value destruction. So let Goliath fight for a few more days, the game is afoot and I feel like a few good rounds with the old boy.

The Preliminary Specification provides the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy.

The Actionable Information Interface.

We have been discussing the interactions between the service and oil & gas industries. And how these interactions need to improve to lay the groundwork for a dynamic and innovative oil and gas industry. As we mentioned yesterday a critical element of these interactions are the Intellectual Property that make up the service industries products and services. What is therefore necessary to initiate the development of those products and services is detailed in the research of Professor Giovanni Dosi.

Thus, I shall discuss the sources of innovation opportunities, the role of markets in allocating resources to the exploration of these opportunities and in determining the rates and directions of technological advances, the characteristics of the processes of innovative search, and the nature of the incentives driving private agents to commit themselves to innovation.

In addition to the funds necessary to finance innovation there are what Professor Giovanni Dosi calls “technical trade-offs.” These trade-offs facilitate the ability for industries to innovate on the changing technical and scientific paradigms. Crucial to the facilitation of these trade-offs is a fundamental component that spurs the change and is usually abundant and available at low costs. For innovation to occur in oil and gas and the service industries, People, Ideas & Objects would assert that the ability to seek and find knowledge, and to collaborate are two “commodities” that are abundant today. With their inherent low direct costs, knowledge and collaboration are the triggers for a number of technical paradigms which will provide companies with fundamental innovations.

Within the Resource Marketplace module there is the Actionable Information Interface. It is simply a database that is maintained by each company, both producers and service industry representatives, that detail their “actionable information”. If a drilling company were interested in purchasing a new rig then they would list this information in the Actionable Information Interface with the expectation that they could develop interest from producers in that region who would be appreciative of the additional capacity. The drilling contractor could then solicit contracts that would aid in securing financing for the new rig and all of this could be communicated through the Actionable Information Interface. What is different is that this is a central repository for all of this information. One could arguably search for this information today, however, since its centralized within one interface, certain information can be imputed from it. For example what would a service industry entrepreneur determine from the review of 200 producers actionable information? This is the beginning of innovation. And with knowledge and collaboration being part of the technical tradeoffs, the source of triggers to new paradigms in the oil and gas and service industries.

The expression of what is needed by the producers will help the service industry prepare the solutions the oil and gas industry needs. However the role of the producers in this process does not end with just the actionable information. They must actively engage with the service industry by endorsing promising ideas, help to commercialize products and services and as we discussed yesterday, respect the Intellectual Property that is being developed. Sitting back and waiting for the service industry to provide the producers with what they need, without the involvement of the producers, will only bring more of what they have now, dissatisfaction. Information about the Actionable Information Interface is contained in the Resource Marketplace module of the Preliminary Specification. There are also interfaces in the Research & Capabilities module that provide similar elements of how the producer develops their capabilities.

The Preliminary Specification provides the oil and gas investor with the business model for profitable exploration and production. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy.

How the Intellectual Property Works.

In my previous post I noted how the Intellectual Property that is derived from the Preliminary Specification will form the basis of the competitive advantages of an industry that will form to fill a gap between the oil and gas producers and the technology providers. Today we want to discuss how that Intellectual Property (IP) is managed and is made available to the users and producers. First of all I am the beneficial owner of the IP that is the Preliminary Specification and I have and will only license one firm to develop systems for the oil and gas producers. That firm is People, Ideas & Objects. This will enable the producers to focus their energies and resources on one solution and not be diverted or diluted by pursuing multiple “me-to” type of solutions.

Producers pay for the use of the software and access to the IP through the Revenue Model. These revenues will support the user community, software development, hardware infrastructure, and delivery of the software services to the producers. Other costs associated with training, accounting integration, etc., will be additional costs that are incurred with members of this new industry. Users are not charged for the use of the software. They are provided access to the software through their employer / client, the producer firms.

People, Ideas & Objects are user based developments. Having systems built without the collective knowledge and understanding of how and what the industry operates is of little value. Individuals know how to do their jobs, however, there are hundreds of unique positions within oil and gas. The only way to capture that knowledge is through user based involvements. Users are therefore a critical aspect of development and a major aspect of the IP that is brought to the table. However, it is derivative of the Preliminary Specification. Therefore users involved in development will be granted a license where they are provided unencumbered access to the IP that is the Preliminary Specification in exchange for the IP rights to any and all of their contributions to the development.

This will ensure that the IP that makes this new industry is available to everyone in an unencumbered manner. That access to all of the IP by the user base remains freely available to all of the users. And producers are assessed a reasonable fee for the use of the IP. It also assures that the IP does not become fragmented and subject to various trolls who come up with portions of IP that they can charge producers for on a scattered basis.

Having the IP managed in this fashion provides this new industry with a unique competitive advantage. It provides us with the ability to raise the revenues to pay the users for their ideas and contributions to the software development. All users are paid for their work here. Producers are protected by dealing with one and only one software development team that is focused on providing them with the solutions they need. The industry can not afford to engineer multiple solutions of the scope and scale of the Preliminary Specification. The industry can not afford to deal with IP trolls that are more of a nuisance and provide no value.

Lastly having the IP resident in the oil and gas industry provides no value for the users or producers. Without the management of the IP in this manner there is nothing People, Ideas & Objects can leverage, we need to generate revenues based on the IP.

The Preliminary Specification provides the oil and gas investor with the business model for profitable exploration and production. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy.

An Industry Based on Intellectual Property.

One of the things that we learned in our research was how the process of specialization and the division of labor expands over time. How do the changes occur and what signals are given for people to make the changes to expand the division of labor in an efficient way. We learned from Professor Richard Langlois that “gap filling” was the way in which specialization and the division of labor increased. When someone saw that a task was not being done, that would be of value if it was done, and the task was filled by someone then the process was complete. In an ever continuing process of improvement the division of labor and specialization continue to expand.

That is until ERP systems like SAP were developed. Then firms encased their processes in concrete in the interpretation of what SAP considered state-of-the-art. And no changes were ever able to be made again. This is why the industry needs to adopt the People, Ideas & Objects software development capability. To free themselves from the SAP encasement and allow themselves to freely innovate on their processes. And to expand on their specialization and division of labor to ensure that they realize the benefits from these powerful tools. In the Preliminary Research report I termed the phrase “SAP is the bureaucracy”. The management of the industry have used that knowledge to ensure they maintain SAP as their ERP system. In that way their franchise will never be challenged.

When it comes to gaps that need filling I see a large one between the technology industry that traditionally provides the ERP systems and the oil and gas industry. What I think needs to happen is that “gap” needs to be filled by an entire industry. One that is based on providing the technology solutions to the oil and gas producers, based on a fundamental understanding of the oil and gas industry. Not an industry that is based on selling the latest operating system or version of the database, but the Preliminary Specification or accounting integration that meets the needs of the innovative oil and gas producer. One that provides the software training or user support that understands oil and gas as fundamentally as the users themselves.

That would be one of the fundamental aspects of the competitive advantages of the people who work within this new industry. Their understanding of the oil and gas industry. Having worked and educated in the primary industry itself would give them a fundamental hands on understanding of the oil and gas business. Another aspect of their competitive advantage would be their abilities when it came to the technologies that are available today. Clearly some people “get them” and have a propensity to work within the core technologies of Java and Oracle databases that preclude large portions of the population. And there would be more. These people would have a third competitive advantage in that they would be licensed in the Intellectual Property that makes up what the industry is based upon and is derivative of the Preliminary Specification.

The current management of the industry do not accept that the Intellectual Property (IP) that People, Ideas & Objects has developed is needed as a competitive advantage for this new industry. They feel that the IP should remain within the oil and gas industry. I naturally disagree. The competitive advantages of the innovative oil and gas producer are its land and asset base, and its earth science and engineering capabilities. The IP that supports its internal processes doesn’t fall within the domain of their competitive advantages. I would also argue that the benefits of having the Preliminary Specification based IP managed in the manner that is proposed enables the industry to benefit in ways that are significant in terms of cost and quality. These will be the topics of tomorrows discussion.

The Preliminary Specification provides the oil and gas investor with the business model for profitable exploration and production. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy.

Access to Intellectual Property

Since my return from our sabbatical we have noted some of the finer points of the Intellectual Property that supports People, Ideas & Objects. In “Copyright Notice” we reflected that the costs to producers of involving themselves with software providers that did not have the supporting research to support their software; may end up costing that producer substantially. And that the larger software vendors, such as Oracle and SAP, would not be interested in contaminating their IP with other vendors who do not have the associated research and IP to their software. What this has shown is that it is a potentially difficult and tragic world for any producer that tries to circumvent any of the owners of any IP.

We also demonstrated in “Copyright License” how this community sources the financial resources for its long term support. And how those within the People, Ideas & Objects community access the IP they need to provide their service based offerings to their producer clients.

I feel this discussion is important as we are at the beginning of a new way of working in the 21st Century. One in which the tools, skills and resources that people have at their disposal are different then what they have been in the past. I think in the very near future the basic tool box of the average person working in the oil and gas industry will have to include access to some form of Intellectual Property (IP). This IP will be how they qualify for jobs, and will also be a critical element of how they earn their living.

We are beginning to see the enhanced role of Intellectual Property in today's marketplace with the litigation over the iPad and iPhone and who can sell similar devices. It is my opinion that Hewlett Packard's Board of Directors pulled the Touchpad off the market after only 7 weeks after realizing that their patent portfolio could not defend against claim by Apple.

In the future access to IP will be available to people in one of the following three forms.

Direct ownership of Intellectual Property. 
This will be the most difficult method to attain Intellectual Property. Not only will this require an original idea but also the costly and time consuming research necessary to develop the idea into a usable form. Rarely do we see these types of ownership occur.

Access to IP via License. 
This is a more common form of access, however it still involves some investment on behalf of the individuals. The licensee has to invest the time and effort necessary to build their service based offering. This business offering may be as a sole proprietor or involve many people, either way, as with all businesses, it requires time, effort and some times financial investments to build the clients and capabilities. These are the types of business leaders that I am primarily interested in when I talk about both the user base and the Community of Independent Service Providers.

Employment through a firm that owns or licenses IP. 
These are the people that are employed through firms that are mentioned in the above two categories. Employees of the owner or licensee of the IP, that although these people are not licensed directly, they have indirect access through their employers license. These people form part of the owners or licensee’s capabilities in providing the software development and service offerings to the producers.

People, Ideas & Objects (PI&O) software and independent service providers will require access to the IP in order to conduct their jobs. This is a fact. Those without access to the IP will not be provided with the opportunity to work for the producers. Simply they won’t be able to log-in or be able to access the community, PI&O, or producer systems, data or information. Therefore members of this community, who will be licensed in some manner mentioned above, will have access to the Intellectual Property necessary to undertake their jobs.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification. Email me here if you need an invite.

The Preliminary Specification Part III

Last week we began our series discussing the output that the community would produce during the Preliminary Specification. We noted the geographical scope and its representation, how technology was not an influence in the specification and that producers, service industries, society and individuals were part of the output. Today we are going to discuss the redefinition of the boundaries between the markets and firms. Where markets are comprised of the service industries and firms are the producers themselves. Where the current bureaucrats and managers are no longer able to micro-manage the industry as they once claim they were able to.

The Draft Specification redefines the boundaries of the market and the firm in the oil and gas industry. As controversial as that sounds, it is required in order for innovation to occur. Critical to this redefinition is the understanding that the key competitive advantages of the producer firms are their land and physical assets and their earth science and engineering capabilities. Acceptance of this fact is critical to the competitiveness of the producer firm. Management of all aspects of the industry are beyond the scope of what is now possible. The market must be relied upon to meet the needs of the field activities. That demands more and better information be communicated between market participants.

No producer would hold out that their drill bit technology as superior to another producer, or their rig as more capable, yet, field level innovations are held back until the marketplace for them is proven for the technology. This chicken and egg strategy has been exploited by the producers time and again because they hold the financial resources of the industry and will only release those dollars for “proven” engineering. Unfortunately the investment capital groups understand this and have decided not to play this game any longer and as a result their is little to no innovation in the field occurring. With no investment capital to fund the start-up ideas nothing is happening. The producers are now having to pay what they feel are exorbitant prices for field services as their are no field level innovations or new entrants. Well whats that saying “you reap what you sow”.

A good example of this holding off is reflected in People, Ideas & Objects. At no time has there been any assistance from industry. Yet on three occasions, in three significant ways they have attempted to circumvent this Intellectual Property. Each attempt has ended in failure. And each failure has only secured my claim by establishing that there is no other competitive offering. Bureaucrats don’t work with the service industry, they only take what they want without paying for it. Those days must end and with the modules in the People, Ideas & Objects application, that end is designed to happen.

When we talk about an industry that needs to do more with the same amount of resources this type of stand-off will not solve the problems the industry face. The problems that this industry faces will not be solved easily. Those with the ideas on how to solve them will not be willing to do it for an industry that will just hijack them. How this is resolved is through the Research & Capabilities Module that allows those with the ideas to publish, in a manner similar to a blog, their ideas and earn the rights to them. There they can have producers see them and have the producers sponsor them and build them for the benefit of those with the ideas, the producer and industry.

Once the ideas are generated and operational within the industry, then the Resource Marketplace module will enable all service providers with the ability to interact with producers to conduct the work needed. From preparation of budgets, AFE’s, work orders, billing, invoices etc the service provider will have accounting interfaces that enable them to manage their interactions with the producers.

In other words those with the ideas working with the producers, developing their ideas, getting funding from the producers to prove their ideas, developing their ideas into commercial products and then interacting with the industry participants to conduct their business. These are the actions that these two modules of the People, Ideas & Objects application are designed to support. These processes are what are needed to enable the market and firms to interact in a manner necessary for the industry to achieve the markets demand for energy. Field level innovations are a critical and necessary element of meeting that demand. The current bureaucrats and managers are unable to understand the information they have in front of them. It is therefore time to take the task away from them.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification. Email me here if you need an invite.

Budget, Copyright and Success

Adding to last weeks discussion of how the copyright is used to support the assessments to the producers and enables the users to innovate freely within the community. Today I want to talk about the benefits of the copyright with respect to the budget. With a $1 - 2 billion budget for software development. Producers should seek comfort in the fact that only one software development will be licensed. People, Ideas & Objects will not have look-alike software development projects springing up and diluting our effort. Multiplying the industries software development costs with multiple instances of the same developments. This post explains how the copyright ensures the resources of the industry remain focused on one solution.

The basis of competition in the software development business, as I have stated here before, has to be on Intellectual Property (IP). To provide a solution that initially provides unique functionality lasts only minutes in terms of a competitive offering. This limited form of competitiveness ends up diluting the original investors financial investment, their innovative-ness in bringing a solution to the market, and has become the sole basis of how most of the software developers try to compete in the oil and gas marketplace today. This may seem like a benefit to the oil and gas producer, however, I would suggest they have a good look around.

Nothing substantial in terms of scope or investment has been undertaken in the ERP software development for oil and gas for almost 30 years. To approach the oil and gas market on the basis of an enduring competitive advantage would be the only reasonable approach to the market. That is why I have taken the strong position, in terms of Intellectual Property, that I have. However, as we can see, there are advantages to taking this strong position on IP for the producers themselves. That advantage is the focused software developments on one solution producing highly engineered solutions that meet the needs of the marketplace, and are not diluted by multiple demands for the types of resources that a software development project of this scope and scale demands.

I am not suggesting that there won’t be solutions that compete with People, Ideas & Objects in the marketplace. What I am asserting is that there won’t be any based on using the Joint Operating Committee as the key organizational construct. To compete, what someone would have to do is to generate their own research, outside the areas of where I have conducted my research, and develop their own solution. This process took me 8 years and if someone where to start today they could probably finish this research by 2020.

The fact of the matter is that the oil and gas producers have fewer choices in the future as to who provides their ERP software systems. One thing is for certain, software providers will have to ensure that the copyright and IP that is provided is as sound and secure as that which is provided by People, Ideas & Objects. To successfully compete in the marketplace today demands this level of commitment to the marketplace, and eliminates the fly-by-night providers who ultimately only siphon off the energy industries focus and financial resources on software development.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification. Email me here if you need an invite.