Tech Manager—World Standards Day
I am writing this article in advance so you can prepare: World Standards Day 2018 is October 14th. Get ready for the party! It is also ANSI Standards 100th anniversary. Gotta love it… I love standards!
From Wikipedia:
“World Standards Day (or International Standards Day) is celebrated internationally each year on 14 October. The day honours the efforts of the thousands of experts who develop voluntary standards within standards development organizations such as the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The aim of World Standards Day is to raise awareness among regulators, industry and consumers as to the importance of standardization to the global economy.
“14 October was specifically chosen to mark the date, in 1946, when delegates from 25 countries first gathered in London and decided to create an international organization focused on facilitating standardization. Even though ISO was formed one year later, it wasn't until 1970 that the first World Standards Day was celebrated.”
From the website of the NIST (which celebrates it on the 18th):
“As technological advances propel American industries to new heights, the 2018 U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day on October 18, 2018, will commemorate voluntary standards and conformity assessment’s fundamental role in supporting a safe and efficient “Innovation Nation.” The event will include a reception and gala dinner at the Fairmont Washington in Washington, D.C.
“World Standards Day was initially launched in 1970, and is now celebrated by nations around the globe. U.S. activities are organized annually by a planning committee consisting of representatives from the standards and conformity assessment community. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) will serve as the event’s 2018 administrating organization, in honor of its 100-year anniversary.”
No matter what you might do to celebrate standards, Tech Managers live in this space. We create standards. We embrace and extend them. I sometimes tell people, “If there is a rule or standard, I follow it. If there is no rule or standard, I make one, then I follow it.”
This year’s theme is the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The World Economic Forum explains it like this:
“The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second used electric power to create mass production. The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.
“There are three reasons why today’s transformations represent not merely a prolongation of the Third Industrial Revolution but rather the arrival of a Fourth and distinct one: velocity, scope, and systems impact. The speed of current breakthroughs has no historical precedent. When compared with previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth is evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace. Moreover, it is disrupting almost every industry in every country. And the breadth and depth of these changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance.”
The Benefits of Policies, Procedures, Processes, and Standards
You may need all four of these workhorses in your environment. Policies are codified principles that, in general terms, provide a statement of intent. It is a policy that the front office doors are always unlocked during business hours so that clients can get in. Procedures are the planned means and methods of how you achieve the policy. It is the plan of attack. We provide a key to all staff so they can open the door each day. The Processes are the actions you perform to complete the task. Turn the key to the left, verify that the door is unlocked, and remove your key. Standards are the targets you need to hit. They provide tangible measures of quality and success. The door will be unlocked during business hours. When the day is done, we lock the door.
Having these four in place help staff not take a trial-and-error approach to getting the job done. You memorialize the lessons learned and the best practices that others have created over time. They allow others the comfort of knowing that when others pass work on to them, they can expect certain structures to be in place. They speed things along. They aid in training. They also show a certain amount of focus on quality workmanship. We take pride in what we do.
- They allow your users to work together. As mentioned before, we share files between staff members. They need to know what they are getting and you need to pass on a solid product that others can work with.
- They allow you to save time by not rethinking everything, every time. Repeat processes that have been defined and agreed upon let you get to work quicker and finish early.
- They allow your firm to unify output. What goes out the door or over the wire is important and reflects on your firm. By producing a consistent digital product, others will be impressed. They allow your team to deliver good output.
- They allow you to reuse portions of prior work. Many items that are part of a new project come from portions of old projects. You have libraries built and families created. Reusing these allows you to move quicker and save time. But they must be standardized in order to work.
- They allow you to automate. Data will not be scattered and disjointed on every file. Since standard block names are used, staff can find what they need. You can create automation tools that pull in standardized objects. You can trust that what you added to your file from a library is compliant.
- They allow your management to think about other things. No one wants to worry about file stability and workability. They just want it all to work. By framing the workflow, your senior folks can focus on delivering client needs and desires. Your design staff can think about great design and not CAD output.
- They allow you to measure success. When you produce files and models, their compliance to standards can be measurable. You either get it right or you do not. You can set up review processes that quickly expose anomalies and you can correct them.
Policies, procedures, processes, and standards tell others that you know what you are doing. They project success through structured guidelines. They let your client know that you have a depth of knowledge about your development and delivery beyond others in your field. They make your work go smoother. They make you more productive. They allow you collaborate with others.
What’s not to love about standards?
