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 VIII (PLM Part III)

In the past two posts regarding the Preliminary Specifications Output. We have noted two research projects for the community to undertake. The first research project relates to all three of the “marketplace” modules and is to determine if the user interface would incorporate elements of the “user vision”. The second research project relates to the Petroleum Lease Marketplace module and is to determine if the data and information is to be stored at the Joint Operating Committee level or at the producer. This would enable many changes, the most important of which was a revised division of labor and specialization in the administration of oil and gas.

The implications of the decisions from these research projects are far reaching. The entire Preliminary Specification is a substantial opportunity for the industry to participate in a significant redesign of how the industry operates. By realigning all of the frameworks of the hierarchy, those being the compliance and governance, with the legal, financial, operational decision making, cultural, communication, innovation and strategic frameworks of the Joint Operating Committee we are leaving no stone unturned. We have the opportunity to address everything and make it far more natural in how it operates.

The budget for the Preliminary Specification has taken on the controversial size of $100 million. We begin to see how that size matters in the type of work that needs to be done. These two research projects are only small subsets of the work that needs to be undertaken, but they are budgeted for. It is this type of research that will benefit the system as we move forward. These research decisions made at this early stage will have the dramatic impact on the system when it is developed. Change after the Preliminary Specification becomes difficult and very costly. Now is the time to address these difficult points, and now is the time to address them appropriately with the appropriate research budgets.

I don’t want to get into the details of what is required in each of the research projects. Once you start thinking it becomes quite a large issue. And that is why they will be addressed in the Preliminary Specification. 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.

S + B, Three Paths to Open Innovation

Strategy + Business published “Three Paths To Open Innovation” a few months ago and I thought that I would highlight it now. We recently discussed the Resource Marketplace module and how innovation at the service industry level, and within the producer needed to be handled within that module. This article helps to further define these needs.

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.

McKinsey, Edmund S. Phelps

It’s Saturday which means its time for some clearing of our McKinsey backlog. This is an enjoyable read from Edmund S. Phelps who won the Nobel Prize in Economics a few years ago. He is speaking on the topic of innovation, and although not specifically topical to what we are do here, it is worthwhile reading. The title of the paper is “Supporting Innovation: Why and How”.

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 VII (PLM Part II)

Yesterday we discussed the Petroleum Lease Marketplaces virtual representation of the physical oil and gas marketplace. And the “User Vision”, or graphical user interface that could be used in the Preliminary Specification. In today’s post I want to discuss the general classifications of the people that will work in the Petroleum Lease Marketplace (PLM) and some of the activities they’ll be involved in.

When we look at the types of work that is carried out in the PLM we see a large group of administrators working within different areas within a producer firm. Whether it be the Land or Legal department, Production or Exploration Operations staff or Accounting people; all of these groups have an interest in the information, people, assets, documents, processes and functionality contained within the PLM.

The primary concern of the people in these groups is the information and data contained within the module. It’s accuracy, access, and use by those within their firm, but also within the Joint Operating Committee’s that their firm has an interest in. Some of this data will be similar to the data that is held by their firms partners, and much of the data has been generated in a cooperative and collaborative manner by those partnerships.

For example AFE’s, Mail Ballots, agreements, are generated through interactions by each of the participants in the Joint Operating Committee. How much of this data and information could therefore be held by the Joint Operating Committee with an interface to the firm, is a question that should be answered with significant research during the Preliminary Specification. To answer that question would also answer; for whom do those people we mentioned, work for. The implications would be significant.

One of the greatest opportunities that we have in developing this system is to address the division of labor and specialization. To take these people’s work and to reorganize it across the industry, so that it was focused on the Joint Operating Committee but very specialized in terms of the tasks that they conduct. And apply those skills across the entire industry, or a geographical region, or some other classification. Is something that could provide significant increases in oil and gas industry productivity and overall cost savings. That is to say that an individual would work for a process that is billed to 1,000 Joint Operating Committees that might represent 200 Companies.

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 VI (PLM Part I)

We now move to the next “marketplace” module in the Preliminary Specification, the Petroleum Lease Marketplace (PLM) module. The PLM is the most interesting marketplace module as its objective is to replicate virtually what the physical oil and gas marketplace is. That begins of course with Petroleum Leases. The discussion of the Petroleum Lease Marketplace module will take a few posts as its scope is rather broad and the concepts far reaching.

When we are replicating the physical oil and gas marketplace, the Petroleum Lease is the source document that is the common denominator of all activity and ownership within the industry. Any physical oil and gas assets will be attached to some lease, agreement, rights or concession granting the holders the rights and privileges of ownership, lease or rental. These are the things that are contained within a marketplace. They are what are purchased and sold, bargained and traded for. They are the things that people are recruited to provide services for. Generally a marketplace is a dynamic and evolving commercially oriented hub of activity. That is what we are replicating in the PLM.

The second point that I want to put across today is the manner in which some of the interactions may take place in the PLM, the Resource Marketplace and Financial Marketplace modules of the People, Ideas & Objects application. I have been hesitant to promote this “user vision” too aggressively due to the controversial nature of the vision. Its something that the community will need to determine if it wants or needs to include the vision in the Preliminary Specification. Please read the user vision here.

Simply it shows a three dimensional version of a virtual representation of a marketplace. One which avatars looking to conduct business on behalf of their human representatives. I think it may have validity in the future of business. I could be wrong. If the “user vision” is necessary will be a determination of the community in the Preliminary Specification. I expect this decision to be based on substantial research and user input, not an initial show of hands as to who thinks its a good idea today. This may have some value for the innovative oil and gas producer. If so we will need to determine that in the Preliminary Specification, design those features and engineer them into the application.

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 V

The sky is the limit when we talk about the output of the Performance Evaluation and Analytics & Statistics Modules, literally. These two modules should be somewhat best be left in the hands of those that have an aptitude to deal with data and its presentation, I don’t think that I can add any value over what is stated in the Draft Specification.

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 IV

We want to continue discussing the output requirements of the Resource Marketplace Module from yesterday. We run the risk of getting too complex when we speak about the division or boundaries of the firm and markets but its an important definition that we get right in the People, Ideas & Objects applications. Simply we are attempting to provide as much actionable information between the producers and those in the service industries so that innovation in the field and at the producer levels can begin and develop. We need to ensure that the ideas that will drive the industry are developed as quickly as they can be.

The Resource Marketplace module offers more as well. In addition to the service industries that are sourced by the producer, human resources are handled by this module. Now this is more of the traditional Human Resources recruitment function of the firm where the recruiting and management of the firms personnel is done. Of course one other aspect would be that we would bring full payroll capabilities into the system.

What may be difficult to determine is the appropriate placing of the interfaces for deployment of the resources within the firm and various Joint Operating Committees. Ideally the Resource Marketplace module makes the most sense, however the community may think that these interfaces belong elsewhere. What I am referring to is the pooling of human resources that the partners within a Joint Operating Committee may do in order to adequately resource the property. (We will also discuss this in the Accounting Voucher module.)

For example, with the demands for more engineering and earth science effort for each barrel of oil produced. The ability for each producer to have in-house the global capability to deal with all aspects of their operation; will be a luxury that the market for human resources will not provide. Therefore, the capabilities to meet the needs of the properties operational demands will need to be met through the pooling of the Joint Operating Committee's partners human resources.

Recall in the Partnership Accounting Module that this pooling can take on any characteristic that the partner is able to contribute. If the partner is able to contribute only financially, then they are charged for everything, whereas, a partner that is able to contribute human or technical resources, these are costed to the Joint Account in consideration of their contribution.

The interfaces that we discussed will not only include the ability to source the resource through the Resource Marketplace Module. The ability to charge the costs of the resources through the Partnership Accounting Module. The ability to grant secure access through the Security & Access Control Module. Which will also of course include an appropriate designation in terms of the qualifications of the individual and determination of who they will be reporting to in the Military Command & Control Metaphor. But will also need to have the appropriate governance requirements interfaced in to the Compliance & Governance Module.

Here we begin to see the complexity that this system needs to address to deal with the needs of pooling the resources in the Joint Operating Committee. This is not a nice to have that might be used by some of the firms some of the time. This will be a necessity of the industry in order to deal with the complexity of the operations that the industry deals with today and in the future. It is fair to assume that with the current production profile and decline curves that the industry activity levels will need to accelerate. Although the systems complexity can seem daunting, a properly designed and engineered system, such as the opportunity as is presented here with People, Ideas & Objects, would make the industry operate in a fashion that would enable it to optimize its operations.

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.

McKinsey, Measuring the Nets Growth Dividend

It’s the weekend which means its time to review some of our McKinsey backlog. Today we have the executive summary of “Internet Matters: The Net’s Sweeping Impact On Growth, Jobs and Prosperity” from the McKinsey Global Institute.

I want to highlight three quotes from the executive summary as they pertain specifically to the work that we are doing here at People, Ideas & Objects. The first quote states what should be obvious to most people by now;

Our research shows that more than 75% of the value added created by the Internet is in traditional industries. The businesses that have seen the greatest value creation have benefits from innovation leading to higher productivity triggered by the Internet. 

Applying technology to the oil and gas industry is to benefit those that work within the industry and the industry itself. To a large extent, what the Draft Specification provides is necessary functionality and process management for the industry to innovate and meet the markets demands for energy. Its not a nice to have but a necessity.

A few days ago we discussed Professor Paul Romer’s New Growth Theory and the three themes of People, Ideas & Things. In this next quotation McKinsey Global Institute discusses endogenous economic growth’s impact on per capita GDP.

The maturity of the Internet correlates with rising living standards.

Leveraging endogenous economic growth theory, we have been able to show that Internet maturity correlates with growth in per capita GDP. Using the results of the correlation, a simulation shows that an increase in Internet maturity similar to the one experienced in mature  countries over the past 15 years creates an increase in real GDP per capita of $500 on average during this period. It took the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century 50 years to achieve the same results. This shows both the magnitude of the positive impact of the Web at all levels of society and the speed at which it delivers benefits.  

If we are currently seeing these dramatic effects on per capita GDP, then the Information Revolution is well entrenched and the benefits to society are beginning to develop. As time passes these benefits will multiply and the values realized will grow. Now is the time to become active in these areas and start at what can only be described as the beginning of the commercialization of the Information Revolution.

This last quotation from McKinsey’s report advises where business leaders should put the Internet in terms of their strategic agenda. The Information and Communication Technologies are too powerful to leave outside of the tool kit of any CEO or business leader. Not only are they are powerful ways in which to lever competitive advantages, they leave areas of weakness exposed to competitors who exploit these technologies.

All business leaders, not just e-CEO’s, should put the Internet at the top of their strategic agenda.

Business leaders must optimize the benefits gleaned from the Internet through innovation and change. It is no longer a choice, given that many businesses face competitors who capitalize on the power of the Internet to Innovate business models. Business leaders should play a significant role in the spread of the Internet and systemically review how the Internet allows them to innovate more aggressively and even reinvent their business models to boost growth, performance, and productivity. 

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.