A View From Inside a CEN Working Group

This paper looks at some of the aspects of standardisation primarily from the perspective of a Working Group. This practical view may be not too terribly scientific, but it highlights some important down-to-earth aspects of our work. The text considers the structural constraints under which Working Groups operate. It also discusses the restricting, and some of the enabling factors. Some of these are surprisingly mundane while others are deeply intertwined with the mechanics of standardisation organisations and those of the industry which demands standards. Thus remedies could be simple or difficult to achieve. This article is meant as food for thought to make standardisation faster and less troublesome. It relates to the work in official standardisation bodies in Europe in the IT sector. The subject of CEN’s ISSS workshops has been left aside because it deserves comprehensive analysis in a separate article.