We wrote The IT/OT Handbook (and you can pre-order it today)

We wrote a book. Not just a book, but The IT/OT Handbook.

We’re writing this from Hannover Messe and we can finally say it out loud:

We wrote a book.
Not just a book.
The IT/OT Handbook.

You can pre-order it today. It ships in October.
(And if you order now and send us proof, we’ve lined up a few extras you’ll actually want)

📣 Quick reminder before we dive in: our next ITOT.Academy cohort kicks off in May, and there are only two early-bird seats left at the time of writing. If you’ve been on the fence, this is the moment.
👉 Check the curriculum & enrol via ITOT.Academy

The two of us at Hannover Messe this week

Why we wrote it

After more than a decade of Industry 4.0, digital twins, and now industrial AI, it’s easy to feel like everyone else has figured it out and you’re the one lagging behind.

You’re not.

Most companies still can’t scale past their first two flashy pilots — let alone bridge the gap between IT and OT in a way that actually sticks.

Two years ago, we went looking for a book that showed the full picture: how technology, organisational dynamics, cooperation patterns and culture all link together on the shopfloor. We didn’t find it. So we wrote one ourselves.

The IT/OT Handbook is the result. Two years of research. Hundreds of conversations with practitioners. Everything we’ve learned across decades digitalising chemicals, food & beverage, and critical infrastructure — distilled into the three-step framework we wish someone had handed us on day one.

“David and Willem have put together a ‘must read’ for anyone who works at or near the intersection of IT and OT. The book provides helpful, practical and actionable insights that you’ll be able to apply to your own efforts right away.”

—Rick Bullotta, Investor, Former Co-founder and CTO at ThingWorx, Former CTO at Wonderware

The framework: Understand, Cooperate, Scale

Three steps. No shortcuts (and technology only comes third ;))

Understand. Before you can bridge the gap between IT and OT, you need to understand what actually makes them different. Not the surface-level stuff — the real differences in constraints, assumptions, cycles and mental models. Most of the friction on your projects has its roots here. Name it, and a lot of your everyday problems suddenly make sense.

Cooperate. Understanding alone won’t move the needle. But neither will a poster telling people to “collaborate more”. We walk you through seven cooperation patterns — from ad-hoc pilot teams to enterprise-wide product organisations — with their strengths, their weaknesses, and the pitfalls we’ve seen kill them. These patterns give you vocabulary you’ll use for years. They turn fluffy conversations about “working better together” into something tangible.

Scale & Sustain. This is where most companies get stuck — the infamous pilot purgatory. You’ll learn why operational data is fundamentally different from IT data, how to build a platform that compounds value instead of collapsing under its own weight, where UNS fits (and where it doesn’t), why context matters more than any specific tool, and how to recognise — and push through — the plateau that always comes.

“The IT/OT Handbook promises to be everything and more than the author’s blog and podcast is. Based on hands-on experience, thorough analysis and critical evaluation, it points to a world where after many years of stagnation we can finally move forward, making industrial production better, safer, more efficient.”

—Margret Bauer, Professor of Process Automation, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences

Who we wrote it for

This book sits at the intersection of IT and OT. If you live anywhere near that line, there’s something in here for you.

IT & OT practitioners. Automation engineers, data scientists, plant IT managers, control-system specialists — the people actually implementing digital change on the shopfloor. You’ll get frameworks to navigate the organisational mess that usually kills your technical work, and the language to explain your problems upwards.

Operational & technology leaders. Plant managers, CIOs, CTOs, heads of manufacturing excellence — the people who fund, sponsor and scale these initiatives. You’ll understand why pilots stall, how to stop funding the same failure twice, and what it takes to make transformation stick.

Consultants & advisors. If you’re advising industrial clients on digital transformation, this is your playbook. Cooperation patterns, data platform architecture, organisational maturity models — all grounded in manufacturing reality, not a deck from last year’s conference.

Vendors & system integrators. If you deliver technology into industrial environments, you only ever see a slice of the picture. This book helps you understand the context your customers are actually operating in — and how to unblock the hidden factors that make or break your projects.

Pre-order now

Pick whichever is closest to you. Amazon ships globally. Barnes & Noble ships to most countries outside Europe.

North & South America

• Barnes & Noble (North + South America)

• Amazon.com US

• Bookshop.org US

• Amazon Canada

• Indigo Canada

Europe

• Amazon Belgium

• Netherlands: order via Amazon Germany

• Amazon Germany

• Amazon France

• Amazon Spain

• Saxo Denmark

Other Countries

• Barnes & Noble

• Amazon.com

• UK: currently only possible via Amazon.com

Claim your pre-order bonuses

If you pre-order through any online bookstore, we’d love to thank you properly. Upload your proof of purchase via itotbook.com and you’ll unlock:

→ An invitation to the exclusive virtual launch event in October, with speakers from both IT and OT. Limited to the first 100 pre-orders.

→ Our Cooperation Patterns Cheat Sheet — the one-pager version of Part II you can hang above your desk.

→ Access to our Cooperation Virtual Masterclass.

Two years of work. One book. Ready for you in October.

We genuinely can’t wait for you to read it :)

— Willem & David