What is the most surprising thing from the readings or lectures that you did not know about IT

and how that information impacts your current organization or your views on how IT can help you
become a better manager? What is your initial reaction to The Phoenix Project? Have you
experienced IT situations as described in The Phoenix Project at work?
a) What is the most surprising thing from the readings or lectures that you did not know
about IT

I had never studied IT from the perspective of Information systems and the
Information systems management. I got a clear perspective of what an MIS is from
the slide number 13 from in the lecture yesterday evening. Secondly, I learned
about the top ten current IT trends & Business trends in Oil & Gas industry. Some of
them I clearly knew but never thought of them or studied them from the
perspective of the connection of IT and IS in Oil & Gas industry.
Top IT Tends in Oil & Gas Industry:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Rise of Private and public cloud space, advanced analytics.

Better Business Intelligence systems
IT/OT convergence
Better IT security for industrial control systems

Top Business Trends:

1. Digital Oilfield , (using smart technologies, mobile technologies, technology
advancement incorporation)
2. Security and Cyber Risk Management in supply chain management
3. Aging work force unique knowledge management challenges
4. Asset planning and optimization (coordination, integration, global access,
flexibility to adapt to changes, single reference data) &Increased Compliance
with regulatory bodies
b) How that information impacts your current organization or your views on how IT can help you
become a better manager

It was interesting to learn a lot about the IT department of my own company and
the information systems existing within my own company. The headcount of the IT
department and the number of personnel in the company that it supports. This was
the most surprising aspect of this week`s reading for me. This new information
made me look at IT department in my company from a different perspective.
Questions arose on what business platform do we have in our organization, do we
even have a business platform? What are the current information systems within
our organization? What kind of operating model do we have in our company and
what should be operating model for our company. Our company is an independent
producer of Oil & Gas with vertical integration model (own service companies). This
week`s has made me evaluate that with regards to what could be more efficient
way to run our business. This will be the basis of my conversation with our CIO later
this week. I believe being able to understand the constraints of our current IT
department, have a clear vision of the right operating model, and being able to

understand the three steps to making a firm IT-Savvy will help us become a better
manager by making IT as a strategic asset.
C) What is your initial reaction to The Phoenix Project?
The Phoenix Project is an interesting book about IT management. Its fictional
account is a powerful and effective way to get the concept of Information system
across to a reader. It also helps you understand the constraints, problems that IT
organizations and the Business enterprises come across on regular basis at different
levels. This book helps you relate and compare the problems or successes faced by
the Parts Unlimited Company to our own individual companies that we work for. I
am looking forward to hearing how Bill actually understands The Four ways of
work and the three ways of IT and fixes the problems of this company in
upcoming chapters.
d) Have you experienced IT situations as described in The Phoenix Project at work?

Its already made me familiar with some common problems that I observe in my
company from IT and operations workflow integration. Quick fixes and patch work
culture that was discussed in the book exists to a certain level in our organization,
but our company has been growing at a tremendous pace in last 5-6 years and so
has the IT organization evolved in that period. It was good to see that our
organization is trying to solve the issues being faced in the book the Phoenix
Project. We are now working on an ERP system strategy implementation,
streamlined the workflow of data across the organization, IT/Business intelligence
personnel are embedded in asset teams or having greater involvement etc.