Practical Insights from the Peculiar World of Standards

0 0 1 8 9 1 6 2 / 1 6 / $ 3 3 . 0 0 © 2 0 1 6 I E E E S tandards touch our lives every day. They keep us safe, make our products work together, and ensure repeatable processes. Hundreds, if not thousands, of organizations develop standards. While the methods they use might vary, I’ve found commonalities across the world of standardization. Creating standards is interesting and sometimes strange. I’d like to illustrate, by way of brief stories, 10 insights I’ve gained over decades of work in the field of standards. These insights come from my book, The Ten Commandments for Effective Standards.1 Hopefully, you will enjoy them and not think that I am a standards deviant (see Figure 1).