Recruitng Our Leadership Team

Another element of our focus on the user community is our recruitment of the 30 or so members of the user communities leadership team. Ideally we are hoping to have the leadership team in place prior to the commencement of software developments in January 2017. This might be possible, however it is not a critical component to our progress. The leadership team will support the user community, most particularly in their early developmental years. We have previously defined the positions within the leadership team. And this post will seek to revisit what those positions are and what is expected of them.

What I feel are the most important positions are the position of Product Owner. If I didn't already have a role in this development I would most definitely be after one of these Product Owner positions. There may be as many as 20 of these positions available in the People, Ideas & Objects development. One for each of the modules of the Preliminary Specification and additional Product Owners for the data models, user interface, etc and for example.

These are senior positions within the development team. They represent the user community within the software developer team and are their representative on the ground in the development. They are well versed in the business topic of the module that they represent and understand the software development process. They are able to troubleshoot any difficulties in terms of the miscommunication between the developers and user community and ensure that the user community understands their deadlines and commitments. Product quality is the effect that the Product Owner can make in terms of their contribution.

We have also established a Board of Directors for the leadership team of the user community. They will assume the typical role of directors in a corporate environment and will therefore provide the strategic vision and leadership of the user community. They will also be responsible for approving the annual budget that is necessary to fulfill that vision and leadership. All of the funding for the user community is sourced through People, Ideas & Objects and therefore these budgets will be prepared and submitted for funding by the leadership team. People, Ideas & Objects as the licensee of the Intellectual Property raises the necessary funds for both the user community and the software developers on an annual basis.

The last positions of the leadership team are the C class executives. A CEO, CFO, COO will need to be secured in order to manage an organization of this size, scope and scale being undertaken. I mentioned before that I will be taking the Chairman's and CEO's role. If we are able to secure people prior to our January 2017 commencement date that would be ideal. We would have no resources to compensate them at that time, however there would be compensation beyond January 2017. More is expected of the leadership team and this is typical of what is required in a startup position.

I can't stress enough the importance that I feel regarding the users involvement in these software developments. We have all seen the types of systems that are developed when the user is excluded from the development. And that will not happen here. We are committed for the next 21 months to be focused on the development of the user community and the leadership team. This will be on top of the work that we have done in the past 15 months. This is the hard work of getting the ideas into the minds of the overall oil and gas industry and creating an interest in developing and participating in a new solution. One based on the Preliminary Specification as our guide to provide the oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. If you share in this objective and believe that the industry needs to turn away from its bureaucratic, losing ways. Then have a look at what we have here. I'm sure you'll find something that interests you.

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. 

A Quick Review of Our Plan

I made the statement last week that I would not work with the bureaucracy in the development of this software, its user community or the service providers. Seeing how they had chosen to concern themselves only with their interests when they had the opportunity to work with us for the past decade. That we were providing them with the opportunity to expand the oil and gas industries output through specialization and the division of labor and provide higher profitability through the “price maker” strategy that we enable in the decentralized production model. Their choice was to take what we had developed and attempt to eliminate it without any compensation towards us. Now that they have caused the oil and gas producers to lose money at a remarkable rate we don't need them and we certainly don't want to emulate their way of doing business. So why exactly do we want to work with them?

Our budget. The producers are the source of the financial resources that are necessary to make this community operate. One thing I can assure you is that the feeling of not working together is mutually held by the bureaucrats. And if the bureaucracy was concerned about the loses that the producers were incurring, don’t you think they would have begun the search for solutions to solve the problem? Maybe even five years ago when the natural gas prices declined. The only reason that they have the ability to stay in power in terms of the administration of the oil and gas industry is that there is no alternative for the oil and gas investor to turn too. And that is point that we have to make in this next year. That the failure of the bureaucracy will continue until an alternative is put in place. And we are that alternative. All that is necessary for this community to begin the transition is for our budget to be funded.

In order to do that we need to be prepared to provide that solution to the marketplace. We have detailed a vision that is complete within the Preliminary Specification. A method of how the oil and gas producer and their assets will be managed through the user community and service providers. We began January 1, 2014 in the development of the user community. This is the hard, expensive and time consuming work that most ERP systems skip. We have defined a leadership team for the user community and began recruiting for the 30 or so positions that make up that team.

Our plan is simple. Present our leadership team, the Preliminary Specification and our method of management to the investors in the oil and gas industry and have them fund these. I don't expect the investors to fund us directly from their pockets. I expect them to direct the oil and gas producers to do so.

As unreasonable and difficult as this appears in terms of it occurring. It is the best hope that we have of ever being funded. The bureaucrats will never fund a competing solution to their franchise. It is the equivalent of suicide to them. They intend to stay in power as long as possible and will not concede anything to anyone. For five years they have allowed significant losses to occur in the natural gas business without a word of discussion about what to do about it. Do you hear any discussion today about what they will be doing to “fix” the solution in terms of the losses that oil and gas companies are incurring today? And you won’t, ever.

Offering an alternative to the status quo is the best that we can do at this time. It is also what is being done in most industries by Information Technology. Some industries are far ahead in terms of the changes that are realized through technology. Some are far behind. Oil and gas needs to change now because of the difficulties that the bureaucracy are proving incapable of and too self interested to deal with.

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.

Who Are the Industries Next Leaders

The bureaucracy are managing their time until they are forced out, or their retirements allow them to live like kings. Either way they will be gone and the investors will be left holding the bag, as they say. Who then are the oil and gas industries next leaders. Dedicated, committed and looking to build on a flexible framework provided by the People, Ideas & Objects user community. Leaders that we can rely upon. And how do we recruit them into the user communities leadership team? Last week we went through how the user community and service providers can benefit the industry, the oil and gas investor, but particularly you the individual that is interested in participating in the user community and as a service provider. Bureaucracies are leaderless and not change oriented. However they are established. Their choice as individuals are to continue on in an unprofitable enterprise where you push paper in a system that is as frustrating and boring as is humanly possible, or to begin that permanent vacation. Bureaucrats know there is a better way, they also know there is nothing they can do to change things.

If you think that People, Ideas & Objects offer the alternative that the industry needs. One in which the focus will be on the dynamic, innovative and profitable oil and gas producer. Where the individual, working through the user community and the service providers has the ability, the capability and the power to make the changes that are necessary to keep the oil and gas producer dynamic, innovative and profitable. Then maybe there is a role for you in the leadership team of the user community. After all leaders need an organization, and roles within those organizations in order to practice their skills.

We showed last week that the People, Ideas & Objects user community has significant power that they can exercise within the oil and gas industry. This power is approximately equivalent to what the bureaucracy currently holds today in the oil and gas industry. The difference is that the bureaucracy have chosen to line their pockets by abusing this power, and employ the muddle along strategy. In other words they do nothing but use this power for their own self interest. We have chosen to prioritize the oil and gas producers dynamic, innovative and profitable capabilities as the keys to our competitive advantage. It is this competitive advantage that will sustain the user communities power for the long term. As long as we remain focused on these priorities we will remain the chosen method of oil and gas administration and accounting, ways and means.

We have established reasonable timelines for people to participate within the user community. We need to have the leadership team in place and operational prior to the January 2017 deadline that we established for industry, and the investors to support this initiative. It will be on the strength of the leadership team and our commitment to providing the oil and gas producers with the most dynamic, innovative and profitable means of oil and gas operations, and of course the Preliminary Specification that they will fund us. This does not preclude people from joining the user community prior to January 2017. After all we have much work to do.

Our leadership team consists of the traditional board of directors. We have set the total number to six, I have appointed myself as chairman and hold two votes. There are also the C class executives of the user community that need to be filled. That is the CEO, CFO and COO. Lastly there are many product owner positions that we have defined in the user community. Each product owner will be responsible for one of the modules of the Preliminary Specification, or one element of the development. For example the data model, or the user interface, etc. As a result the total number of people we are looking for to fill out this leadership team will be upwards of thirty people. If you have an interest in these positions or know of someone who might be a good candidate then pass this data on to them. After all it looks like we might just change the world after all.

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. 

People, Plans and Priorities.

Our plans for developing the Preliminary Specification and the user community are currently in effect. They will see us continue on with our priority of developing the user community through to January 2019. It is the user community that will make the Preliminary Specification and everything associated with this product stand out as a quality product for the innovative and profitable oil and gas producer. Our commitment to the user community and its development in these next few years will become one of our key competitive advantages. We have established January 2017 as the deadline that we expect the investment community will financially support our user communities development. Support in the form of the advancement of our budgets funds. It will be at that time that we can begin the full development of the user community for the remaining two years prior to the softwares development that commences in January 2019.

There are many things to be done within these time frames. The first order of business is to establish the leadership team of the user community. I have set out approximately 30 positions that need to be filled before the January 2017 deadline. These consist of the board of directors, the executives and the twenty or so product owners. Having a dedicated leadership team that provides the investors in oil and gas with an alternative means of managing their assets is the strategy that we are using to convince them to fund these developments. Providing this as an alternative to the existing bureaucracy and asking them to choose which method they want their assets managed. It is in this manner that the bureaucracy is removed and replaced by an alternative. This is the only means in which to change the ways and means of the oil and gas industry.

The bureaucracy have had every opportunity to deal with us in the past 10 years. They have chosen not to do so. We have a very storied history with these people. Last winter they prayed for a cold winter so as to increase the natural gas prices. And there were moderately higher natural gas prices thanks to a cold winter. However that did not motivate them to change their business model and their overproduction continued. Now the natural gas prices are declining and they say, pray and do nothing. That is because they know no one can remove them from their positions within the industry. Who has the power to make the changes. If the investors want more profitability then they will have to be satisfied by the bureaucracies accounting wizardry to capitalize more royalties. They are corrupt and self serving and know that they are permanently installed and without an alternative.

It will be a group of like minded people in the user community who are able to offer an alternative to the oil and gas investors. People motivated around the business opportunities provided within the user community, but mostly they will be motivated on the basis of providing the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Our business models within the Preliminary Specification can do that for the industry today and tomorrow. Our user community can lead the industry in resolving the issues and opportunities that occur on a proactive basis. Permanently dispatching the muddling along strategy of the bureaucracy to the scrapheap of history.

The first action of this new and dynamic oil and gas industry will be the change that we exercise in removing and replacing the bureaucracy. By organizing the user community, building the software which defines the ways in which the industry will operate. We will determine its future direction. The bureaucracy will be squeezed out and eliminated through attrition. Deliberately by us. And one day we can say so long, it wasn't nice knowing you.

The Preliminary Specification and user community 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. 

Development of the User Community

Our software development plan sees us continuing on our primary focus of developing the user community for the next five years. This leads us into January 2019 when we will commence developments of the Preliminary Specification with the full user community in place. We have allocated the five years that I feel is necessary to establish the user community in the oil and gas community. The role and responsibilities of the user community in the developments of the software are one thing that we are unwilling to compromise on. But there is also the broader issue of the role and responsibility that the user community has in terms of the developments of the oil and gas industry itself. This is reflected in the user communities vision and is expressed in the power and authority that the community holds to define the ways and means of the administration and accounting of the innovative and profitable oil and gas producers. The People, Ideas & Objects user community is not your typical user community, it has the power and the means in which to determine the direction and priorities of the issues and opportunities of the oil and gas industry.

We have embarked on the beginnings of the development of a leadership team that will begin the formation of the user community. There are almost thirty positions that were identified just prior to our vacation that are being actively recruited. These include the board of directors, the C class executives and the product owners that will be the critical parts of the various software development teams. Scroll back to see if these positions have any appeal to you or someone you might know, and then follow the procedure to join here. Ideally we would like to have these leadership positions in place for the January 2017 deadline we have established for industries financial participation. These resources will fund our budget in its entirety and therefore we can begin to develop the remainder of the user community over the following two years. These resources will also be used to set up the software development team and have them prepared to start the software developments in January 2019.

I can not stress the importance of the users involvement in these software developments. The complexity of the oil and gas industry is second only to the space industry. Approaching these software developments in the traditional manner of token user development would be a waste of money and a waste of people’s time. It would also be a waste of a significant opportunity that we have to do this correctly. User participation in determining what and how the systems that they will use are the only systems that work and are usable for the long term. Just compare Google and Apple, which are heavily user represented, to the long term disappointment that Windows provides. To date no ERP system has been developed with user involvement, that is at least in oil and gas. They may claim to be, however, in comparison to what we are discussing here, and the investments that we will be undertaking to develop the user community, there will be no comparison.

There are thousands of individual positions within oil and gas that need to be captured within the Preliminary Specification. Each position requires an individual at least six months in order to fully understand and learn how to do the job that is being done. This knowledge and understanding needs to be captured by the user community in order for the user to be identified and supported within the systems that they need. That takes time and money to undertake. And that is why our budgets are as high as they are. Significant levels of analysis needs to be undertaken to ensure that the user is supported by the systems that we develop. That the work that we do is to ensure that the tasks that are best left to the computers are done by the computers, and the work that is done by the users, the leadership, the unstructured problem solving, acquiring and processing new information and deciding what is relevant, the creativity, the collaboration, research, generation of ideas and design are completed by the people to ensure that they provide the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

The Preliminary Specification and user community 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.

The User Communities Board of Directors

For the remainder of this week I thought I would go through the individual positions that are available in the user community leadership team. That way people will have a better understanding of the types of positions that are available and which ones they may be best suited for. Today’s topic is the board of directors of the user community. As I have indicated before I don't know if this is a board of governors or directors at this point, we'll however just use the term directors at this point. There are six positions available here including the chairman’s position. One of the unique characteristics of the chairman's position at this point is that position holds two votes. As I indicated in a previous posting the position of chairman is being filled by myself.

The role of director for the user community will be that for the user community itself. It is a position that looks towards the needs of the user community and its requirements. Based on the user community vision it will hold and control the business models of the software contained within the Preliminary Specification. It will recruit the officers and executives necessary to operate the organization consistent with its vision. It will approve the budgets and financial statements of that organization. It will engage the oil and gas industry at large in agreements to provide for their needs in terms of what their ERP and other systems requirements are. It will be responsible for the actions and activities of the user community in fulfilling its obligations to the producers in the industry and its users.

The user community will be endowed with an Intellectual Property License from People, Ideas & Objects. This license will permit the user community to further develop this Intellectual Property with the understanding that all developments will become the property of Paul D. Cox, where they will remain available for the user community to use and develop further. No charge will be levied to the user for use of this Intellectual Property. On the contrary, users will be paid for their contributions. We are paying for the acquisition of the Intellectual Property from the user community. Resources will be provided from People, Ideas & Objects for this purpose. The user community will be for the exclusive use of People, Ideas & Objects.

Directors would preferably be drawn from the oil and gas business community. From a broad mix of administration, accounting, earth science, engineering and technological disciplines. Having a diverse board of directors would represent the needs of the users. Ideally they should be senior members of the community and have established careers. These positions would be part-time in terms of their time requirements however we would expect these people to be fully committed to providing the oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. As that is the key differentiation that makes the user community so valuable and worthwhile.

If you are interested in these position please contact me below. Or alternatively if you know of someone who would be a worthwhile candidate for the user community, send this information on to them. What we have with the Preliminary Specification, the Oracle Fusion Middleware and Applications and user community developments is an excellent product to offer the oil and gas industry. What we also have is a plan in which we are offering our product as an alternative to the industry as a replacement to the bureaucracy. With a product and a plan we can now focus on the people and work towards this decision in January 2017.

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.