We often talk about the need to update our mindsets, especially in order to move away from “legacy thinking” toward a more strategic, data-centric view of business. Often people talk about getting the standards mindset. But what is the standards mindset?
Different people will have different ideas about what makes for a standards mindset. I'll offer what I think are the two main parts.
First, when considering approaches to a problem or opportunity, you're likely to ask: What can we bring in? Old-style thinking tends to start by asking: What can we do with our existing resources? This is why the wheel gets reinvented – because we're good at inventing wheels. It takes a shift in thinking to set that expertise aside, and bring in a pre-existing wheel from outside.
This is subtly different from “thinking outside the box”. That's great advice, but it's hard to implement. It's easier to ask what you can bring into your box from outside. Look outside the box, but keep thinking about your own goals.
Second, I think the standards mindset pays attention to reducing dependencies on proprietary solutions, software, processes, and formats. To stick with the “box” analogy, ideally you want nothing inside the box that you're going to be stuck with – unless it's core to your profitability.
Now, I'm not saying that the standards mindset is all for scrapping every proprietary feature of the existing business. It's about reducing dependencies, not going cold turkey. And it's also about recognizing where unique features – the secret sauce – add real benefit to the business, and where they really just add costs, reduce agility, and degrade competitiveness.
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