Engineers have a love/hate relationship with standards, according to Patrick Kelly. I like his analysis, which takes as its base the idea that engineers like solving problems.
Engineers who want to solve a new problem can resent being told the solution – which is what a standard is. On the other hand, engineers who design standards are enthusiastic about the standards they develop – because they get to do problem-solving. And yet again, experienced engineers value standards because they don't want to solve the same problem over and over.
This chimes with something I often say about standards in both the business and the systems context. One of the great values of standards is that they enable you to shift what you could call the window of novelty. By standardizing elements of the business, you make headroom (and release investment) to focus on more critical areas. It's not just that reinventing the wheel is unnecessary – it's that it actively steals resources from inventing whatever really needs inventing.
The urge and skill to solve problems are wonderful qualities. We need more problem-solving spirit, not less. Standards can help us channel that enthusiasm and capability into areas of real benefit.
Comments