Friday, March 14, 2014

The #User #Community #Vision Part III

The Preliminary Specification defines a vision of how the oil and gas industry will operate in the most profitable manner. We are working on defining a user community vision that defines how that community operates in the most profitable manner. It is the user community that is the key to the success or failure of the oil and gas industry. Without the people necessary to operate the industry, the industry will not operate. Without a clear definition of the users needs and wants in the software, the People, Ideas & Objects software will be useless. The user community is the key to all of these elements success. This community, and I include the associated sub-industry of the service providers, will understand this responsibility and will expect to be compensated for it.

The value proposition contained within the Preliminary Specification has been quantified at $170 billion for the 2012 and 2013 calendar years. It will be determined what value it will provide in the future. With the characteristics of shale gas, I am suggesting here the annual value of the business model in the Preliminary Specification will only go up. For industry to realize the value proposition provided in the business model requires the user community and service providers. Their costs are an inherent cost of doing business and the value proposition is an increment of revenues. The producers get something of significant value for the normal course business administration and accounting costs. Therefore for the user community to expect to be profitable is therefore not an unreasonable expectation.

There will be a shift in power from the bureaucracy to the user community as a result of the work that we are doing. The bureaucracy that currently runs the industry is self serving in its desire to keep itself satisfied. It has long ago distanced itself from value accretion and the interests of others. The user community is being founded on providing the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Our costs involved in operating the industry, the user community and service providers will be single digit percentages of the industries total costs.

Our future and our value is derived through our financial health. If our members are satisfied in their work then their work will be their focus. I don't expect to see the service providers to be owned and operated by a small handful of individuals. I see them owned and operated by the people who are working within the service providers themselves. An allocation of ownership based on some value contribution to the organization. Each year an additional 10% of the stock of the service provider company being issued to the highest contributors as a bonus.

It will be these people who operate the industry on behalf of the oil and gas producers. It is they who the producers will rely on to deal with the administrative and accounting issues and opportunities that they as producers face. But that’s not what the Preliminary Specification does. It certainly addresses the administrative and accounting issues and opportunities. We however also see that it controls the business model of the industry. Therefore it can affect the operations of the oil and gas producer. Like the manner in which the decentralized production model allows the producers to deal with low commodity prices. It is a method to deal with the administrative, accounting and operational issues and opportunities that the industry will face in the 21st century.

It is therefore a mutually beneficial relationship that the industry will have with the user community. One in which the industry, if it were smart, should realize they should be part of.

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

Thursday, March 13, 2014

The #User #Community #Vision Part II

Following on the brief introduction of a user community vision. We also need to discuss what types of work the users will be doing. We will be offloading a lot of the work that is currently being done in the industry to the computers. No one would dispute that fact. The time and effort in maintaining disparate databases of the same information, the reliance on paper and multiple layers of bureaucratic red tape will be gone. In addition using the Joint Operating Committee and aligning the compliance and governance frameworks with the legal, financial, operational decision making, cultural, communication, innovation and strategic frameworks eliminates significant redundancies within the producer organization and their interactions between working interest partners. There will also be efficiencies of using the service providers who focus on their process on behalf of the industry, as their client base.

Therefore there will be significantly less paper used in the process. A lot of the jobs that were consumed in that task will be gone, as will many of the jobs that are involved in the inefficiencies today. So what will people be doing? The first thing they will be doing is providing the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. The industry will understand that it is an investment in its people that provides them with the best return in terms of how their money is managed in the oil and gas industry. Secondly, in the short term, they will have an alternative means of organization for the oil and gas industry to rely on for when the bureaucracy either ultimately fails or just quits.

Focusing on the business of the oil and gas business will be what is the mindset of those that are operating in the user community. The Preliminary Specification is an oil and gas ERP system that is designed for its unique character, and particularly the Joint Operating Committee. This user community is being built upon the Preliminary Specification.

Therefore it will be the decisions, the ideas, the collaborations, researching, the creative, and solving of problems that people will be doing. All focused around the oil and gas business. Now those that are in the user community will be working with the developers of People, Ideas & Objects defining what it is they need and want in terms of software to do these things. That is their job. Developers know how to write code and make systems work and need the explicit direction from users in order to develop the appropriate software. When we look at the Preliminary Specification we need the user community to be large and robust in order to capture the needs of the industry. That is the scope and scale of the effort that we are doing here in the user communities development.

It is therefore reasonable to assume that this will be different software from what is available today. And the reason that it will be different is that it depends on the Preliminary Specification which is unique to the industry but more importantly, it will have the user community that will have been developed over the next few years. The user community participants will have had the time to fully understand and appreciate the opportunity that this is. And they will be able to define what the software is, how it is different and what they need and want. The user community will have at their disposal, not just during the initial development period, but always, the software development capabilities of People, Ideas & Objects for the changes and improvements that they want and need.

In terms of portraying a user community vision this helps to show how this important work will be undertaken. I will continue in further posts to try to portray more of how I see what I think the industry needs from this new form of organization.

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

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

A Vision of the Beginning of the User Community

Its difficult to lay out a vision of what the network, user community and service providers will look like when they are built. Its an entirely different way of working for pretty much everyone in the oil and gas industry. Instead of showing up one day at an office provided to you by someone else, with a desk provided to you by someone else with a computer provider by them as well. A brief introduction to those that are around you and the stack of papers that you will become more intimate with. You'll be faced with nothing but your toes at the end of the bed.

And that’s a good thing as Martha Stewart would say. You have those degrees, that experience, those skills you worked hard in building. You have the knowledge of the oil and gas industry and how it operates. Your own computer of which you're connected to the @piobiz network. This is sounding a bit better than a few minutes ago and then you'll realize its that specific thing that you have always wanted to do.

Its 2014 and what you need to do to enable yourself to do that thing that you want to do will require some time and effort and organization to put it together. Thankfully the People, Ideas & Objects developments are not scheduled until 2019 so you have some time, and you're going to need it. Thankfully you can drone on in the office we noted above for many more years while you configure this offering for the future. The question would be where do you start.

The first thing everyone needs to do is to read the Preliminary Specification and become familiar with the global scope of the application. And all of the other aspects of the projects. The more you understand the business model the better you will be able to fit within it and configure yourself with others. Then everyone will need to Think, Act and be Patient as first the network, and eventually the user community develops into what they need to be to provide the oil and gas industry with an alternative means of organization.

People will figure out the rest from this point. Collaborations will begin and the self organizing nature of the network should begin to start. That is how this works. No one will control it, no one will tell it what to do. It will exist to provide the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. It will have the software development capability of People, Ideas & Objects to build the software it wants and needs to meet that objective.

Collaborations and participation in this user community will be how the oil and gas industry is operated. The bureaucracy doesn't want to hear such nonsense. But as I noted yesterday they won't be around much longer. They will either quit or continue to fail. Our appeal is to the investors who are of like mind and will need the solutions that we are developing here. Both to replace the bureaucracy and to ensure that they achieve the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

We have time and as more people join, we will gain mindshare. This is the way things will be operated in the future. In other industries as well. Bureaucracies are finished. Networks are taking over. And this is how they get started. With like minded people Thinking, Acting and being Patient.

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

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

A Cold Hard Assessment

What we are faced with may seem like a long road where there is much risk and a lot of hard work. That is a fair assessment. What we are doing in the user community will be hard to accomplish. The question we need to ask ourselves is, will it be worth it? But before we answer that it probably make sense to take a step back and look at how the bureaucracy perceives us.

Although I have never crossed a mother grizzly bear and her cubs, I don’t think she would have anything on the bureaucracy when you cross their domain. They are a nasty bunch. And they are not a fan of People, Ideas & Objects or the work that we are doing. As we mentioned yesterday we are looking to throw them in the river. They have a nice setup now and do not see the need to upset the makeup of their empire. As I have mentioned in the past, even the CEO’s don’t venture into our territory for fear of a mutiny.

I look at those as the good old days when things were relatively calm in the oil and gas market space. Today, that is since the 2008 financial crisis, things are not necessarily as they appear. The bureaucracy has been losing much of its hold on power in all areas of its domain. It’s in retreat and having to pick its fights. The investors have risen and are asserting their dominance in the corporate domain. So the CEO’s have to pick. Harmony with the bureaucracy or profits with the shareholders. And it looks more and more like the shareholders are winning the war. It’s still too early to pick a winner, but what industry can continue on without making any profits.

And what is so great about profits. Its just that in reality the oil and gas industry hasn’t produced any. The accounting treatment of valuation of assets and hence income can make anyone an oilman. The fact that there are ceiling test write downs in an environment with $100 dollar oil and $5.00 gas should make you laugh uncontrollably. Anything and everything that is spent is capitalized. And little is expensed in the current year. In good years this balloons income and inflates assets of everyone to the level of a super achieving oilman. On an accounting basis you can’t tell if the CEO is an idiot or a genius. That is until they declare bankruptcy.

So earnings have been a bit of a shell game for the past three decades. All your mistakes and skeletons stay in the closet as long as you keep drilling and the commodity prices eventually rise. The investors are now wise to this game and they want to earn some real money now. They have invested faithfully in the industry and have expected returns from the business. During the past decade there has been significant increases in commodity prices and the bureaucracy have not performed. The results are the same as when the prices were $20 per barrel. The bureaucracy feels this should be adequate and the investors need to check their expectations.

I have heard a few CEO’s talk about value instead of volumes. As a matter of fact it was the CEO of Encana in their fourth quarter conference call that brought up that as their new strategy. Well that will be a surprise if they actually pull it off. They could always call us if the mood strikes them. As we have a solution that is somewhat consistent with that idea.

We’ll see how long this flavor of the month strategy lasts. If it’s a trend precipitated by the investors, which I think it is, the bureaucracy should purchase some luggage. Maybe even a canoe. The point being that the time for the user community and People, Ideas & Objects gets closer each day, the risks are less, and the rewards for us as a community are more than worthwhile.

The question was asked at the beginning if we developed the user community would it be worthwhile. If we assume for a moment that the bureaucracy is in decline. And their ability to battle is waning. Then providing the oil and gas industry with an alternative means of organization will not only be a good thing from a profitability point of view, it will be a necessity. What will happen is that when the situation gets to be too untenable for the bureaucracy, they’ll quit. That is their history. They’ll either run out of paper or find opportunities in other locations and leave their skeletons in their closets for someone else to wrestle with. They are not fighters or builders, they’re bureaucrats. We need to have a replacement for them when they abandon ship just as much as we need to replace them to enhance the profitability of the oil and gas industry. And that is why we need to do what we need to do, build the alternative.

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

Monday, March 10, 2014

#Specialization and the #DivisionOfLabor for Higher #Profit

I want to stress that we as a community are not looking to anyone or any group for approval of what we are doing. We are acting in the best interests of the oil and gas industry by providing the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. When this community achieves a certain level of organizational capability the resources necessary to fund the development budget, and hence the user community and eventually the service providers will arrive. Its a bit of a leap of faith. Organizing ourselves does not cost anything of a material nature. Providing the industry with an alternative means of organization is what is necessary to set the revolution in place and throw the bureaucracy in the river.

As of today we stand on the vision that is contained within the Preliminary Specification. One that provides substantial value in terms of its enhanced profitability to the oil and gas producer. The bureaucracy will continue to produce shale gas at a loss, making it a wasted resource. People, Ideas & Objects have a better way. The second pillar of our offering is the Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Fusion Applications as our technical base. These two pillars form the foundation of which we are building the user community upon. When we have the three pillars in place it will be hard for the investors to deny themselves the opportunity to earn greater profits by joining us.

Yesterday we discussed the toolset of specialization and the division of labor. And this is an important element of how we provide the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Some may feel that the use of computers will be taking away jobs in the future. I sure hope so. They can take away all of the low end jobs that they can handle as far as I am concerned. And leave us with the thinking, deciding, innovating, creating, collaboration, research, problem solving and ideas that we can handle. Thats the future that I am building.

What the future of the oil and gas industry has in store for us is a little different as well. Even today the production costs on oil are in the $70 range. How many people are being employed in those cost figures as compared when oil prices were $20 and production costs were $12. The future sees a continued escalation in the costs of production. And the demand for production will increase as well. The volumes demanded by the world will grow. Therefore the level of work needed at all levels within the industry is going to need to expand significantly as production costs continue to rise, and production rises to meet demand.

Where will these people come from? And that is an age old question that economic principles have solved since the 1790’s. They have solved it through the toolset of specialization and the division of labor. As more is demanded from the workforce we will adapt by bringing more people into the industry. But that is limited. What we need to do is to continue to specialize and divide the labor so that the efficiency and productivity of each individual is increased. And it is in that way we will be able to approach this increasing workload.

The way that the bureaucracy has structured itself today provides no further upside in terms of specialization and the division of labor. Each silo’d corporation is constrained by its ability to specialize and divide the labor because it is not exposed to large enough of an area to really specialize in. Take yesterday’s example of the lease rental payment service provider or even Exxonmobil's ability to specialize in that process. The service provider, particularly with the People, Ideas & Objects software development capability, will win every time. So there is no opportunity for the bureaucracy to increase their throughput of more oil and gas production or deal with the rising costs. They only have the ability to hire more people to do more stuffing of reams of paper in the printers. And they have already shown the inability to make any money with that business model.

So when we talk about the toolset of specialization and the division of labor we are talking about the capability of increasing the throughput of the industry to meet its future demands. Demands of rising costs per barrel of oil equivalent, and higher production volumes. Without this toolset the industry might not be able to increase its productivity, or address the higher throughput, leading to further declines in its profitability. Specialization and the division of labor, in addition to the decentralized production model, are reasons that this community will provide the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

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.

Friday, March 07, 2014

How the #ServiceProviders Will #Compete

We noted before that the glue that holds the user community and service providers together is the Intellectual Property (IP) that is derived from the Preliminary Specification. Users are licensed to access all of the IP that makes up the Preliminary Specification for the work that they do in the user community. It is a similar case for the service providers. They will be granted an exclusive license, and the software from People, Ideas & Objects to manage a process. For the purposes of this blog post lets assume that it is the lease rental payment process for the United States.

Other than for other geographic regions such as Canada, no other service provider will be granted a license or be given access to the software that manages the lease rental payment process in the United States. It is an exclusive engagement. Some might think that without the competitive elements driving the service provider, the lease rental payment process will become inefficient. And that would be the case. However I would ask what competitive elements are we looking for. The oil and gas industry consistently looks to establish multiple vendors in every category of offering. The innovator or inventor of a product or service is left to fend for themselves against half a dozen “me-to” competitors who provide low cost and low quality services to the industry. The original providers IP or advantage washed away by the oil and gas industries lack of respect for anyones IP. This has been the traditional manner of operations in oil and gas for many years. And these days are gone.

Now what will happen is the service provider will have the exclusive rights to manage the process. However they will also have the competitive forces from other service providers managing other processes driving their efficiency and effectiveness. It will be the toolset of specialization and the division of labor that they will be able to rely on to make their service offerings more valuable to their producer clients. This they will do without the risks associated of losing their market share to someone who thinks they can do it cheaper. The competition will be between the service providers in terms of how they use specialization and the division of labor to increase their efficiency.

The ability to concentrate on the process and its efficiency will be the success in the long term. The team of people that will be employed at this service provider will be able to use their advanced educations, their ideas, the software development capabilities of People, Ideas & Objects, the most recent and advanced sciences and make themselves profitable and efficient for their producer clients.

Being a licensed service provider will require demonstration of significant skills in the marketplace. The experience, skills, knowledge, and understanding of the industry will be what we are looking for in a service provider. Their participation in the user community will be a mandatory requirement, particularly in the process that they are looking to manage. And to get started with that it is necessary to join our network (@piobiz on Twitter). Granted this development will take time. And time is what we have. We are not currently scheduled to go into developments until 2019 so there is plenty of time for people to organize themselves for these opportunities.

Its important to recall the revenue streams and value proposition that we are working under here. The user community is budgeted to receive $333 to $667 million in direct payments from People, Ideas & Objects for their contributions during developments. And the service providers will have the tens of billions of dollars that the producer firms are incurring in G&A diverted to them as annual revenues for their service offerings. And that is in consideration that in 2012 and 2013 the opportunity costs of not having the Preliminary Specification operational with the decentralized production model cost the oil and gas industry $170 billion. Software has such an impact on what we do these days. Its important we get a handle on these things by joining our network (@piobiz on Twitter).

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.

Thursday, March 06, 2014

The Importance of the #User in #Systems #Development

Within the network that we are building here in People, Ideas & Objects. It is our long term objective to provide an alternative means of organization to the oil and gas industry. We are not looking for anyone’s approval to do so. We are not waiting for the bureaucracy to fund our initiative and provide it with the momentum that they will control. We are not waiting for someone’s decision to proceed with what we know is the right thing to do. We are the critical point of success or failure in terms of the how the industry operates in the future. We are focused on providing the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

The industry as it stands today has proven that it can not change. The bureaucracy is in control and will not cede its position. It is self serving and uninterested in the needs of any other stakeholder groups. Individuals and society have issues and opportunities that the bureaucracies refuse to consider. It is time to remove them from their comfortable seat and throw the bums out. Our appeal is to the oil and gas investors who are as equally frustrated with the profitability of the industry. They can direct the bureaucracy to fund People, Ideas & Objects, our user community and the service providers.

It is the people in the user community and service providers who will run the industry in the future that are being organized around our network (@piobiz on Twitter). This is the critical next step in our development. And the determination of whether we will be successful or not. Significant talk about the user and their role in the development of software is discussed in systems today. However, once the budget is fixed and the dollars start flowing, the realization that the user communities development is slow, hard and difficult work. Not something that fits into the gantt chart. Therefore user community development continues to be spoken of and very rarely implemented in terms of its potential. Everyone glosses over the fact that no one did any user community development and the system is deployed to widespread user disappointment.

This has been the traditional means of software development and implementation in the industry. This is unacceptable to me. User community involvement is the difference between success and failure in systems development, in my opinion. It takes at least six months for an individual to get a handle on their position in the organization. Multiply that by the hundreds of different positions in the industry and we understand the unique and difficult characteristics of how systems are to support these users. To not have the users involved in the development to portray this knowledge to the developers, then what exactly are the developers doing.

And what we are doing in People, Ideas & Objects in terms of user community development is not your fathers user community developments. We are creating a permanent user community for these developments, a dynamic revolutionary movement away from the bureaucracy, and a sub-industry of service providers that is derivative of the user community. If we had the money necessary to complete our developments we would sit on it until the user community was fully developed to the point where we could begin developments with them in place. This is something that we can do without the financial resources. And what we choose to do now. Develop the user community, the long, hard and difficult work of finding the people who are like minded in their desire to provide the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

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

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

A New #BusinessModel For #Shale #Gas Production

We have seen in the last few weeks a number of spikes in the natural gas price due to the cold weather we have been having. It is winter and this is to be expected. We should thank all of those who prayed for a cold winter this past summer. Their efforts have certainly been successful. With the higher natural gas prices this eliminates the need for industry to adopt the Preliminary Specification. Or so the bureaucracy would like to think. However, it would be typical of the bureaucracy to manage the industry on the basis of the current conditions. It makes me wonder what happens to these people when it gets dark at night.

What we really need to focus on is the two hundred year supply of global natural gas that is available as a result of shale gas. And ask ourselves how are we going to produce it. Continually at a loss, or can we organize ourselves in a manner that would provide the industry with the opportunity to actually earn a profit? I can assure you what these price spikes in natural gas have done is dusted off some old drilling locations that will be spud here in the next quarter. By summer we should be back to $3.00 or less for the gas price. If shale gas is anything, its prolific.

Its comedic, predictable and destructive. The industry is operated on the two human emotions of fear and greed. Nothing in between. Its also inherent in the bureaucracies current business model. One in which requires them to always produce at capacity. This is in order that they can pay for the large overhead costs associated with managing the production, operation, administration and accounting organization. The organization is fixed in size, capabilities and capacity. It is custom built to support producer “A” at production levels of 100%. Not 80% or even 90%. To scale back production would trigger the demand to scale back the organization. And that can't be done. It is a unique one of a kind organization that has no redundancies. Everything is needed at 100% as it is at 80%. And if you make any cuts to the organization you'll damage your capabilities in the long run and hurt yourself in the long term. Its a catch 22 that no one in the industry wants to or will play. And rightfully so.

What is needed is a different way in which to organize the industry, a different business model and that is the Preliminary Specification. Contained within it is the decentralized production model that addresses the ability of the producer to shut-in production that does not meet the marginal costs. Therefore the only production that would be produced would be that which is profitable.

The decentralized production model does this by taking the prototypical producer and reducing their footprint to the C class executive, earth science and engineering resources, some land and legal, and some support staff. All the other resources that were traditionally employed by an oil and gas producer are reorganized into service providers who are focused on the process and have the entire industry as their client base. Then for example the service provider who manages a process to calculate royalties for the purposes of the Texas Railroad Commission will process their work for the client and bill the associated Joint Operating Committee for that work. And this will be the same for all of the processes that are managed by all of the service providers. What we are doing is moving the producers reliance on the firms administrative and accounting capabilities to the Joint Operating Committees reliance on the industries administrative and accounting capabilities. And in turn making the Joint Operating Committees administrative and accounting costs variable.

So when it comes time for the producer to shut-in the property because it is not producing a profit. All of the service providers will therefore not receive any work units associated with that Joint Operating Committee for that month. And as a result will not be processing any billing for any of the administrative or accounting work that is traditionally done for that Joint Operating Committee during the time that it is shut-in. And it will be understood that during times of commodity price volatility the service providers will have declines in their revenue streams as a result of some of the properties being shut-in.

What this does for the producers that own the property is substantial. It first of all keeps the reserves in the ground until the time in which they can be produced for a profit. Secondly they eliminate the loss on operations from the companies performance. The company will only have profitable producing properties and shut-in or “null” operations that don't produce a profit or a loss. And lastly the commodity marketplace will have less of the commodity in the market setting a floor on its pricing and keeping the steep declines we have seen in the past, in the past.

It is this business model that, may not be needed today, that might be needed tomorrow, that will provide a profitable return on all of the shale gas reserves, all of the time. Something that the bureaucracy should give some thought to, and how their mindless, self serving ways are currently destroying the industry. But then I am biased.

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

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Killing Two Birds With One Stone

Yesterday we noted that we would be making contact with the investor community when the network for the user community was available to offer the investors with an alternative means of organization. Well that is sort of the case. I don't expect to be knocking on any doors or making any phone calls. The chance that you'll get through isn't worth the effort, second of all they probably won’t listen to you. The investors listen to what is going on down on the street. And that is how we will contact and communicate with them. By making this network available to them, it will also get their attention. And that is about the only way that we can motivate them to act in the manner that we want them to. And that is to tell their producer firms to issue the check for our developments.

If I was an oil and gas investor, frustrated with the situation in oil and gas. Poor earnings, the bureaucracy entrenched and not listening. Unable to assert any change even though I have cut them off from any future funding. That I as an investor have not realized any increase in the value of my investments as a result of the commodity price increases. Would keep my ear to the ground for anything and everything of interest in the domain of how to run an oil and gas firm better, faster, smarter or more profitably.

If I then found a community of like minded people committed to a vision of providing the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. And a technical capability to do so. I would be more than interested in hearing more and seeing what they had.

This is the solution that we have to provide the marketplace. And in a way by developing the network and the user community we are killing two birds with one stone. We are building the capability to provide the industry with an alternative means of organization. And we are creating an awareness with the investor community of our presence and the value proposition that we provide. And that is how this community will be funded and proceed with its developments. From the ground up. Brick by brick, and stick by stick.

The investor is not being asked to front their own investment capital. We are asking them to direct the producer firms that they own and control to forward the money to us. And this is not taking money from the bureaucracy. We will know this money is being directed from the investors and the bureaucracy are not interested in making these payments. So when they try to put conditions and caveats on the money, we can tell them good luck with that. We don't have to listen to them, take the check and cash it. The revolution will be financed with money from the old world bureaucrats who will be powerless to effect any change in our progress or direction.

The investors joining us are what happens when you put networks of like minded people together. There are a lot of other things that happen as well. The point is that if you are committed to providing the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. If you find the opportunities here at People, Ideas & Objects interesting. And think that these changes need to take place in the oil and gas industry. You need to join the network (@piobiz on Twitter) and watch what happens over the next few years. Granted these changes will take some time, but participation early is worthwhile as things will begin happening soon.

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

Monday, March 03, 2014

Who Are We Looking For

We have noted before that not everyone will become members of the user community. And certainly not everyone in the user community will become a service provider. However most of the user community will be employed at a service provider, or in the rare case a producer firm. What we are looking for in a user community participant is someone who can take the Preliminary Specification and build upon it the software and services they need to provide the oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. People, Ideas & Objects will provide the software development capabilities and together we can move the oil and gas industry forward into the 21st century.

Who are we looking for in terms of the people who should join our network (@piobiz on Twitter). Simple, those who work in the oil and gas, service or other related industries that see People, Ideas & Objects as an opportunity to further advance their careers. I’d like to think that the thing that we are providing the most is an opportunity. One that is in a new frontier of the oil and gas, service and related industries. Many people will shy away from the scale of the changes that we are making. Some will run toward them. In many ways this is a community of like minded people who are oriented to change and are interested in the opportunities that will be available as a result. And that is who we are looking for.

In terms of skills, experience, education and capabilities we will need people from all areas and all levels. It really comes down to the orientation towards change and opportunity. And in that sense I can point out that the user community in our current budget is allocated $333 to 667 million in user community fees for 1,000 to 2,000 man years of effort. These are budgeted at our standard rate of $185.00 U.S. per hour. There is also the service providers who will be derivative of the user community. Their revenue stream will be a reallocation of the G&A expenses of the producers. With the decentralized production model the G&A resources of the producers are moved to the service providers in the form of revenues. Therefore the service providers would be provided with a share of the $40 - 60 billion in current producer G&A expenses as revenues for their firms. The share would be determined on the percentage of the amount of the G&A that is offloaded from the producers to the service providers. I would estimate that share to be in the range of 75 to 85%.

So in terms of opportunities the user community can look to significant revenue streams as a result of their participation with People, Ideas & Objects. This is a business venture where there are significant upside opportunities for those that participate. We are not asking anything of the user community in terms of a volunteer basis. We are only asking that we organize ourselves within a network. A network of like minded people who are ready, willing and capable of forming the requisite user community and service providers necessary to provide the oil and gas industry with an alternative form of organization. One that uses the Preliminary Specification as its vision and Oracle Fusion Applications as its technological base. Then when we have these three components we can turn to the investor community and show them that they have alternatives, that we provide real value and only require their financial resources necessary to proceed. That is what is being asked by People, Ideas & Objects.

Development of the user community is the critical next step in our process. We can do this without the assistance of the bureaucracy. Indeed we need to do it without the assistance of the bureaucracy. They will contaminate our initiative if we accept their money or influence. This has to be a revolutionary type of change. One built from the ground up, based on the users needs and wants. And that is how it is going to be built.

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.

Friday, February 28, 2014

One Implication of the Decentralized Production Model

We saw last week Canadian Natural Resources Ltd purchase the conventional assets of Devon Energy Ltd for $2.6 billion. I wonder if CNRL knows something about conventional gas assets that Devon doesn’t. Like what the implications are for implementing the decentralized production model in the oil and gas industry. By doing so, conventional assets become much more valuable as a result. Making this transaction favor CNRL in the long run.

What the decentralized production model does is turn the oil and gas industry into a price maker. This leaves their history as a price taker far behind. And it does it in a way that doesn't require them to collude or break the law in any way. All they have to do is focus on profitable production. If a property doesn’t produce a profit, shut it in and try to innovate ways to bring it back on production profitably.

People, Ideas & Objects decentralized production model works by stripping the innovative producer down to the C class executives, the earth science and engineering resources, land and legal and some support staff. Reallocating the remainder of the firms resources to service providers who are focused on a process or subprocess and are using the entire industry as their client base. The service providers are then able to provide their services based on a heightened level of specialization and division of labor. Providing their services, such as lease rental payments, production, revenue or royalty accounting etc. directly to the Joint Operating Committee that incurs the service. The fee for the administration and accounting services goes directly to the Joint Operating Committee that incurs the service.

As a result when the property is shut-in there are no activities that invoke the various processes for administrative or accounting service providers to incur any of their services. And hence none of their services are charged to the Joint Operating Committee. Therefore during times of shut-in production only the costs of capital are uncovered. There will be no operation, administration or accounting charges to the Joint Operating Committee. And the property will report a null operation. No profits but also no losses. The reserves will be held for a time when they can be produced profitably and the natural gas marketplace has a floor placed on the gas price.

The net result is that the pricing model of the industry is changed to higher values to enable the profitable production. The dynamic that exists in the marketplace today is that there is enough shale gas making up the production profile that it will be more than just the swing production. It will define what the level of profitable production will be, based on shale gas costs.

Therefore the conventional gas costs, which are substantially lower, will not factor in to what the pricing model requires. They will be profitable, highly profitable at all times. This assumes that the conventional gas properties can maintain reasonable production profiles and keep their operational costs low.

The decentralized production model is a business model for the innovative oil and gas producer. It is also a new economic model for the natural gas business. One that is based on the highest cost production. As it is only that high cost production that will come on to the market when a profitable price is received. And since shale is already approximately 40% of the North American production profile. Its costs will be the determining factor to its arrival on the marketplace.

Therefore CNRL’s acquisition of conventional assets at this time may be timely if the decentralized production model becomes the business model that operates within the industry. Maybe they know something that Devon and I don't know, a guy can always dream.

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.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Think, Act and be Patient

If we are to fight the bureaucracy with a revolutionary vision such as the Preliminary Specification, and organize ourselves with the user community around that vision. Then we need the people within the industry to join this network, and provide a viable alternative organization for the oil and gas investor. That is what we need to do for the foreseeable future. And this may be a long process. It takes a while for someone to listen and be open to new ideas. And it seems everyone has a new idea these days. The bandwidth necessary to consider everything just doesn't exist. And if we get the consideration of any individual our message is complex and requires a significant level of oil and gas understanding to appreciate the message. This is why users need to Think, Act and be Patient.

No one said it would be easy, but I guarantee you that it will be worthwhile. We will be taking the entire industry and moving it into the 21st century. Away from its muddling along strategy of doing nothing in the face of tragic losses from low commodity prices. To a dynamic, innovative, proactive and profitable industry that is able to deal with the issues and opportunities that it faces today and tomorrow. With a user community and service provider sub-industry dedicated to providing the oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. The industry will be able to bank on the most efficient, effective and profitable operations possible.

Our goal for 2014 is to get the word out. I understands how difficult it is to get the message that People, Ideas & Objects is selling out into the industry. There is a lot of emotion involved in change related initiatives. People are hesitant at first and this is understandable. Over time however they begin to see the value and are charged up by the opportunity. We are at the beginning stages of the development of the user community and I would ask everyone to spread the word and encourage like minded individuals to get involved in the work that we are doing here by joining our network (@piobiz on Twitter). This community will be built over the course of the next few years brick by brick, and stick by stick.

As difficult as that is to believe that we can build the community that one day will ouster the bureaucracy. We need to remember the power of ideas. Over the course of the next few years there will be nothing that rises to challenge the bureaucracy. Other than us that is. And the bureaucracy will remain complacent and arrogant. The current high prices in natural gas have them believing that the good times are about to roll once again. And that very well might be the case. However, it could also be, with the prolific nature of the shale gas reservoirs, that the market is flooded with natural gas chasing the higher prices which causes another collapse in natural gas prices. If they believe now that the need for the Preliminary Specification is eliminated due to the higher prices, will that mean that the demand for the Preliminary Specification will be necessary when the prices collapse. I doubt their thinking along those lines either. The bureaucracies line of thinking is purely from the point of view of their survival.

We should care less what the bureaucracy does in the next few years and focus on the job that we have to do. Provide the oil and gas producer with an alternative means of oil and gas organization. One based on profitability. Think what you need from the Preliminary Specification in order to make it the ideal application for you in the networked world. And Act on those ideas within the community that is being established here in People, Ideas & Objects and we'll be Patient together for our day when we can take the opportunity, offer our solution to the industry and remove the bureaucracy from the field of play.

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.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The Development of Work Related Networks

People from the industry who join our network (@piobiz on Twitter) are able to state that they provide oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. This is the key differentiation between what we do at People, Ideas & Objects, the communities that are aligned with us and the rest of the industry. Profitability has been ignored by the bureaucracy for too long. The bureaucracy are incapable of generating any real profits and focus instead on cash flows to convince themselves of performance. Investors now want profits and will not accept anything but. Therefore the industry must restructure itself based on the capability of generating profitable operations. A fundamental shift, and one that requires new business models, like that in the Preliminary Specification.

Its one thing to implement a new business model, and we have all seen how those go. Another round of encouraging doublespeak from the bureaucracy burdened down with presentations on how things need to, and will change. Only for things to fade to the great black hole of the bureaucratic shuffle that we all know and love. This is also one of the reasons that we need to make sure that we are not embraced by the bureaucracy. They will crush us. What we need to do is to create an alternative means of organization for the oil and gas investor to rely on to manage their oil and gas assets. One that replaces and eliminates the bureaucracy.

What if there was a community of like minded people, guided by an overall vision of how they could provide the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Willing and capable of providing a solution to manage the oil and gas industry in competition to the bureaucracy. Is this what is needed in the oil and gas industry today? Is this the manner of how work is undertaken in the future? Where like minded people organize themselves to solve difficult issues and build value for industry? How else will the bureaucracy be dislodged and eliminated?

What people need to do is to review the Preliminary Specification and determine if it is the vision that they can stand behind. Then they need to join our network (@piobiz on Twitter). There they can communicate and collaborate with other like minded people and begin to develop the community that is needed to show the investors the viability of an alternative organization. It is in that network where members will think, act and be patient as we break down the bureaucracy and build up our alternative. After all it is a revolution that we are talking about.

It is the revolutionary components of what we are doing that differentiate us from the powerpoint wielding bureaucrat. Their change efforts, if we were to try to have them develop People, Ideas & Objects now, would end up in a system with no user community. In other words an unusable system, just what the bureaucrats want. By building the user community now we'll have the people necessary to define and build the systems they want and need when the funds do arrive from the investors. And as a result the chances of success will be much improved.

This network of People, Ideas & Objects is the beginning of a what could be called a “work network.” People are very familiar with social networks as we experiment and learn to use the Internet they eventually will move into the work environment. People, Ideas & Objects “work network” will become the place where industry participants can go to solve their problems, collaborate with other like minded individuals and organize themselves to conduct units of work. It will be for all intents and purposes the replacement to the bureaucracy. So this is not just a temporary one off development of a network. The People, Ideas & Objects network and user community will be the place that you more or less go to work to in the morning. That is what we are developing here, and why its important that we provide the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

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

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

The Future, Is Here

It arrived late last night and I don't think there is anything anyone can do about it. We now live in an environment where “things” happen faster than we can think about them. Control is a myth, you're either with the flow or you're road kill. I’d like to think that People, Ideas & Objects is with the flow, however, I feel I am getting some push back from the readership. These things will be determined in the near future. What People, Ideas & Objects have is a sound vision in the Preliminary Specification and a strong technical base with Oracle Fusion Middleware and Applications. Our readership feels its time to leverage this into action within the industry and have the software built. I wish it were so easy.

Action by the bureaucrats at this time is not going to happen. They barely raise an eyebrow at the sight of $170 billion in opportunity costs. It is these bureaucrats who are in control of the industry and make the decisions as to whether they will participate in the development of People, Ideas & Objects software. There is no convincing them. The investors on the other hand are furious with the manner in which the industry is operated. Little if any new money has been invested in oil and gas in the past few years. All of the capital investments have been generated by cash flow and bank borrowings. Look at the junior producers and see how they are strained to the limit in terms of financings. There has been a wholesale investors strike in the industry since 2008. They want to see changes and the bureaucrats don’t see any need for any changes. They feel fine as they are!

What is needed is for the investors to see a viable alternative organization that deals with their issues offered to them. The Preliminary Specifications vision and Oracles technologies are a good start but we need the critical element to make this offering real and that is the user community and the service providers to replace the bureaucracy. Therefore it is our number one priority to establish the user community in a manner that the investors can see a viable alternative, get behind it, and direct the producers they control to fund the developments and start the ball rolling. That is how this will develop. If we concentrate on doing our job in this way, I think the funds will flow as a result.

And what we are establishing in a large way is not a new business. It is a sub-industry that sits between the oil and gas, the service and the technology industries. This sub-industry will consist of the service providers who are the administrative and accounting capabilities of the oil and gas industry. This will not come about overnight. We have scheduled development of the software to begin in 2019 which will be heavily dependent on the user community. And require the service provider sub-industry to be fully formed in 2022 when the system is operational. So here in 2014 we have the time and the opportunity to do this right.

Does anyone see the bureaucracy being a viable alternative in 2022. Are they the choice that the industry will continue with for the remainder of this century. With their entrenched power and attitudes how will they be removed from the scene. A difficult task to do if we don't work together under one common unifying theme, towards common goals. And that is why the Preliminary Specification is so important. It provides the vision and goals for people to see where we need to move too. And as we discussed last week it is on the basis of Intellectual Property that this sub-industry operates. It is the glue that holds it all together and makes it work. People who work within this community can say they provide oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations, because they do.

The future is most definitely here. I can understand the frustration of some of our readers in terms of People, Ideas & Objects current direction and focus. We need to fill out our offering in terms of how we will provide the alternative means of organization to the industry. And then we will be able to leverage that into the action that the people want to see today.

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.

Monday, February 24, 2014

The Value of Ideas in Today's Economy

We are beginning to see the value that ideas are taking in the global economy. And it is consistent with what I have felt their value was for the last few decades. I have spent my time working on ideas as I believe they are the only thing that is of value in the future economy. Physical assets are more or less useless on their own. More than that they are an albatross around your neck that constrain your ability to grow. It isn't worthwhile to own the oil and gas asset unless you have access to the software and services that make the oil and gas asset profitable. That is the logic of the economy that we are heading into. It is also the reason your participation in this user community, and as a service provider, are important to your long term economic health.

Intellectual Property is difficult to develop. It takes a lot of hard work and an immense amount of luck. And I got lucky. Using the Joint Operating Committee as the key organizational construct of the innovative and profitable oil and gas producer is a breakthrough that struck me like a lightening bolt. I knew immediately I had something and set out on almost ten years of research to prove it. I still have years to go before this investment provides any value to me, however, I am much closer now than ever before. This is the road that you can chose to travel if you want to develop Intellectual Property that is unique and new in the marketplace. I own the Joint Operating Committee so you'll have to come up with something else, and I wish you all the good luck in the world.

This user community can offer you a different road. The hard slogging might appeal to some but to most it is a no brainer. As a member of the user community and particularly as a service provider you will have a license to access all of the Intellectual Property that is developed here. As a service provider you are able to leverage that Intellectual Property with the services that you provide the industry. The license will provide you with monopoly rights to manage the process that you are responsible for. The license will not be granted to another service provider in your area. I'm thinking there may be a division between the U.S. and Canada, and maybe there won't be. It’s difficult to tell at this early stage. For the purposes of your process you will have the Intellectual Property rights to administer that process exclusively. Therefore your focus will be on how best to manage the process and use the toolset of specialization and the division of labor to make the services as efficient, effective, and profitable for the oil and gas producers.

Not everyone can be a service provider. But they can still be members of the user community. And those members of the user community will be employed by the service providers. And as a result will have been granted a license by People, Ideas & Objects to freely access the Oracle and People, Ideas & Objects software applications. This will enable them to work on the processes that the service providers manage. This may not seem to be too much of a benefit but not everyone in the industry can be members of the user community.

Members of the user community need to be those people who are committed to providing an alternative organization to the profitable oil and gas producer. They are the people with the education, experience, skills and understanding of the industry that is necessary to make the difference in the industry. It is the user community that is taking on an important role in the future of the industry, and they have the power to make change through control of the Intellectual Property that makes up this environment. And that is why we need to do things this way.

It would seem that we have turned down a dark road when we are selecting who can and who can’t be part of the user community. Anyone can join the network on Twitter and work their way into the user community. User community participation is something that can be earned of course. But a person needs to qualify because of the importance of these positions. The 21st century is a completely different world in terms of Intellectual Property than what the previous centuries were. Its important that you have the means in which to operate in that environment.

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.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Your Personal Information Systems

“A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simon.

I have had some disturbing conversations with some people lately that I think reflect they are heading in the wrong direction. They say they are too overwhelmed by the volumes of information that they are receiving. And as a result they are opting out and focusing only on the relevant things that affect them. “Forget about the fire hose and chose only to look at what I am interested in.” I think this is a dangerous and unnecessary step towards being precluded from what happens in the technology and particularly the economic field. This to me is like saying you will no longer participate in the human race. Creating a secondary class of citizens who are unable, and lack the will to participate in an advanced economy that is soon to be upon us.

I think they have misdiagnosed their problem. I think that instead of being tired of the effort necessary to keep up on all of the necessary information required to participate today, their personal Information Systems are failing. The data and information that they are sorting through is too broad and unorganized. Too basic and requires too much manual effort to discern any value from it. What they need is to use their computers to control the flow of information in a way that they can select what is relevant from a variety of sources and choose the most pertinent and highest quality. What I am saying is not simple, and the effort necessary to “build” such a system takes time and effort, but it desperately needs to be done.

In terms of time I have worked to control the flow of information that I need to keep on top of. My Information System has taken me the better part of ten years to put together and it is quite sophisticated. The range of topics that I need to keep on top of include the oil and gas business, the technology marketplace, Oracle’s technologies, the economy, politics, societies demands to name just a few. And we all know the devil is in the details. The amazing thing is I can maintain this domain of knowledge with as little as one and a half hours per day, and no more than two and a half hours per day. Including weekends. I generally know one to two days before the headlines show up on the nightly news. The value of this in my business is immeasurable. In a few years it will be challenged by the flows of informations growth and the importance of it.

So how is it done. Quality is the first criteria in selection. The problem with quality sources is they don't publish regularly so you need a high volume of quality sources. Secondly seek out people who you generally agree with and have a good understanding of their positions. These can be anybody in the public domain. Like minded people are easily found and easily listened to. The next is take an equal amount of people that you have selected that are like minded, and select people who are those that you are diametrically opposed to. People, that you can't stand to listen to or think they are crazy. And listen to them carefully. Understand their point of view. Subscribe to a diverse source of news agencies on a local, national, continental and international basis. Understand your sources, you’ll be receiving the same information from multiple sources. Video is a priority. Will someone have a video presentation of that story then wait for that video. Otherwise select the source that will give you the best perspective on the story.

There are a variety of tools that are available today. Everyone will have their favorites. I use upwards of ten. I never access this on my iPhone, I can’t fit my world into a four inch screen. Some of it can be used on my iPad but most of it comes through my computer. In fact all of can be run through there the easiest.

I think its important that we keep up to date in the world as we progress in what is going to be an important time for mankind. The Internet Age will be the same as the Industrial Revolution in terms of the impact on people. But we have to participate. Opting out now could have consequences that affect your capabilities in the very near future.

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

Thursday, February 20, 2014

How Does a #User #Community Develop?

What we are doing in terms of the user community development is unique and has not been done before. There is no information that I can find on “user community development.” So in many ways we’ll have to invent it here in order to get what we want. And what we want isn't just a user community in the traditional sense. It is to develop an alternative means of organization to the oil and gas industry. One where the members of the user community are also service providers who use the People, Ideas & Object and Oracle software to provide the oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

The service providers remain members of the user community and are actively involved in future developments of the software. As their needs change in their service offerings they will work with People, Ideas & Objects to make the changes in the software as they need them. This is part of the dynamic nature of the user community that is needed in the oil and gas industry. And one of the key reasons why this user community is unique and never attempted before.

The user community has a role that is above and beyond just defining and designing the software that they will use. They in essence will also be running the industry. With the decentralized production model stripping the producer firm down to the C class executives, the earth science and engineering resources, some land and legal, and support staff. That means all of the administrative and accounting resources from the producers will be reallocated to the service providers. In terms of the number of people that would be involved it would be large. When you count accounting, land administration, production and exploration administration and other administration areas being moved to service providers we are talking about a sizeable volume of the industries resources.

It is the processes that are administered under these groups that are being moved to the service providers. Once these processes are reallocated, each of the service providers will have the monopoly rights to administer their process in the industry. Some consideration may need to be given for each region. Assuming the entire industry was using the Preliminary Specification, the service provider would have all of the producers as their client base and be able to focus on the most efficient and effective means of administering their process. All with a software development capability available to them at all times.

It is this alternative means of organization in oil and gas that we are after. The difference in doing things this way vs. today is calculated at $170 billion in opportunity costs for 2012 and 2013. And that is why the bureaucracy will never proceed with these developments. As it has eliminated them in the process of moving to the decentralized production model. Our appeal is to the investment community who need to see a viable alternative available in order to make any change. We have the vision in People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification, and the technology base in Oracle Fusion Applications. Now we need the means in which to operate the industry. And that is the user community and their ability to organize themselves and offer the service provider offerings. You, as a potential member of the user community and as a service provider are a critical component in making all of this real.

And there are rewards that are significant for those that join the user community. During the software development phase we have budgeted $667 million in user community contributions. And the service providers will have the current G&A expenditures of the producers diverted to them when the decentralized production model is operational. Those G&A expenditures on a continental basis are estimated in the range of $40 - 60 billion per year. Therefore a large portion of those expenditures would then become the revenue streams of the service providers.

Its a different kind of user community that we are developing here. One that leads the industry in terms of how its administration is handled, and how its software is developed. But there’s more. The Preliminary Specification doesn’t just solve the administrative issues of the industry. It also solves the operational issues the industry faces. Just as the decentralized production model resolves low commodity prices. The user community therefore will provide leadership and the capability to resolve the administrative and operational issues that the industry faces. That is the importance of developing this user community and the service providers that you can be part of.

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

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

A Vision of the #User #Community

Fast forward to the time in which you are participating as a service provider in the oil and gas industry. You will be one of the key elements in providing the oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. The transition to the decentralized production model has occurred and you provide the Oracle and People, Ideas & Objects software applications, and the services of your team to the industry as a whole in the specialized area you have selected. The revenues in your firm provide you with the ability to build a highly specialized team and offering that is focused on these quality services to the producers. Bringing the work that you do to new levels of capabilities that provide your clients with unheard of value propositions. Such is the road that we are traveling down.

It is the participant, the leader, the member of the user community that is so critical to the effectiveness of providing the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Without the leadership in the user community none of this will happen and that is why I am spending the time and effort in developing this community. It is critical. If we had all the money for the developments today it would be useless until we had the leadership of the user community in place. That is why we are looking for anyone who our vision in the Preliminary Specification appeals to, to join us and begin organizing ourselves for this new manner of oil and gas operations.

To provide the oil and gas industry with an alternative means of organization is the objective that we need to achieve. The investors need a replacement to the bureaucracy and are as displeased with it as we are. However they have no alternatives to turn to. We can organize that alternative and give them the solution. I have shown how the user community is formed through the Twitter network, then move onto the user community participating in the developments and finally onto the service providers. This won't happen overnight, but we have the time, and we have the time to do it right. We have the developments scheduled for 2019 which gives us an adequate amount of time to organize ourselves for this task of providing an alternative means of organization for the oil and gas industry.

Crazy, I know, but fun, heck yeah! We will have achieved something that needs to be done. And that is to move the industry out of its muddling through strategy to one of a dynamic, innovative, proactive and profitable industry. Something that desperately needs to be done. And we offer more than that. As it stands today we have the vision of the Preliminary Specification. Complete with the decentralized production model. And Oracle Fusion Applications. We are not anyones weak second cousin. We are building on the premier vision and technology bases.

When we add the user community, and particularly the leadership of that user community, to what we already have we will have the solution that is necessary for the 21st century. This is why it is so important to build this community. Having the user community and its leadership will make everything complete. It is the secret sauce. No other ERP system even has user input. And People, Ideas & Objects will be user community based developments, and, user community based developments for the remainder of the century. This isn’t a one off building for the initial development purposes, this is a permanent development. Look at People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model and you will see that we exist based on changes derived by user community requests. It is the dynamic nature of the user community that we are establishing here and now that will drive the developments, and the industry.

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.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Clarification of the #User #Development Phases

We have in People, Ideas & Objects a somewhat complicated and possibly not well communicated process of how the user community will develop over the course of the next few years. This post will hopefully clarify the various phases that I see the users going through in terms of their interaction within the user community and People, Ideas & Objects. The first thing to do is to provide a clear definition of who I see being a member of the user community. And that is anyone within the oil and gas, the oil and gas service industry or any related businesses that have a desire, capability, or idea on how to provide the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

We hear how technologies are maturing and becoming more disruptive in the marketplace. That is true and for oil and gas the Preliminary Specification is that technology. The common theme is that people will be displaced and rendered unemployed as a result. This has been the common theme throughout the computer age. They say this time its different due to the fact that the maturity of the technologies will have a much broader impact. We see with the $170 billion in opportunity costs the scope of the impact of the technologies, and they are positive.

Nonetheless I believe there will be some displacement. To those that choose to participate in the People, Ideas & Objects developments. They will be able to take the front row seats and be the first to select which areas appeal to them the most. I think the types of work that we will be doing in the future will be different. We will be offloading the storage and processing to the computers. And we will be left with the innovation, the collaborations, the thinking, the decisions, the problem solving, the creative work, the research and the generation of ideas. Sounds to me like a better place than where we stuff another ream of paper in the printer.

There are three phases that the user participant goes through during the years we are following our plan. They are joining our network on Twitter @piobiz, then committing to the user community and participating in the developments, and lastly, if so inclined, establishing a service provider organization to manage a process for the oil and gas producers. These three phases of joining the user community are detailed as follows.

Joining @piobiz today on Twitter will allow users to keep up with other users and communicate with one another. If you use Hootsuite you can participate in conversations with other users. Generally this is a loosely formed network of like minded individuals that can informally participate, or just keep up to date on activities in the user community as it develops. There are no costs and there are no commitments, just participation. If you are concerned about the bureaucracy then set up an anonymous Twitter account.

The second level requires a little bit of effort and commitment from the user participant. This next level requires that you introduce yourself to the general community and sign the user license. I don’t expect anyone having to go to this level for some time as our developments are not scheduled until 2019. Intellectual Property is the glue that binds the user community together and requires the user community participant to sign the user license. Recall in the budget you are paid for your contributions in exchange for your Intellectual Property Rights. We acquire the IP this way through the user community license, which in turn provides you with unencumbered access to all of the Intellectual Property that is contained by myself or People, Ideas & Objects. I then use that IP to assess the oil and gas producers with the fees necessary to support the developers and user communities.

The third tier of the user community is the service provider which is the mature user community participant that signed the user license and participated in some element of the development. They have intimate knowledge of some aspect of the People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification that the oil and gas producers need in order to be the most profitable oil and gas operations. These user community participants may want to then establish themselves as service providers and offer these services under a service provider license. These will be open only to those people who participate in the user community. They can then set up a firm and provide these services, a process or subprocess management, to the oil and gas industry as their client base. These service providers will have as their revenue streams the current G&A expenditures of the producers that will be diverted to them by the decentralized production model. These revenues are currently estimated in the tens of billions of dollars.

This may seem like an unnecessarily slow process that could otherwise be done much quicker. Remember we are plotting a revolution and the establishment of the service providers is critical to the success of the whole project. It may seem slow, but there is much to do so join me today and lets get the word out.

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.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Allocation of our Margins

One thing about being in the software business is the healthy nature of the margins that are realized. For example Microsoft Office earns 73% profit margins for Microsoft. That also assumes you are able to attain the point in your business that you actually earn any revenues. The real downside of the software business is that all of your costs, the actual cost of development, is conducted without the benefit of any revenues. So you have to incur the costs of development before you get to the point of earning any revenues. Such is the way of the software business. And with People, Ideas & Objects large scope and scale, and the small market for ERP systems that the oil and gas producers make up, we have implemented a Revenue Model that is fundamentally different than most software companies. That is, we are developing the software with revenues from the producers. As the scope and scale is beyond the capabilities of the investment community.

Nonetheless the lead times to get to the point where the revenues are realized are significant. We are planning to commence developments in 2019 and complete them in 2021. I started working on developing oil and gas systems in May of 1991 and signed my companies first comprehensive development agreement with Oracle in February of 1992. It is coming up to 23 years that I have had this vision of the Preliminary Specification rattling around in my brain. It represents a life’s work and a life’s investment. I don’t count the amount of money that I have invested in this software nightmare, but it is substantial. The point is I am either crazy or I'm right. And I am very satisfied with being crazy.

So it is to the margins of our budget. I have allocated a 25% Intellectual Property Royalty, or $500 million to 1 billion to myself, the owner of the copyright of all of this material. I know this will cause some backlash in the industry, you understand that I am satisfied with my position in life. Alternatively you can start with your own vision as I did in 1991 and enjoy the smooth and glorious ride that offers. Bureaucrats will hold this royalty out as a reason not to proceed. Denying the investors the almost $100 billion in annual opportunity costs that are lost by using their current business model.

There are additional profit margins of 25% totalling $500 million to 1 billion as well. These are the profits of the firm and are distributed as dividends to the shareholders. It is true that I control 100% of the firm and as a result these dividends will end up in my pocket. I provide oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. This is a tangible difference in our business model. The question becomes how do I realize this value that I generate for the industry? The shares are worthless. Once the development is done the revenues will fall significantly and define a much smaller capitalization. Do I have to sell the company to realize the value that I earn? The methodology defined above is the means that I choose to monetize my efforts, and is commensurate with the value that I provide to the industry.

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