The standards professional: the employee you didn't know you needed. II

by Clyde Camp WHILE MOST COMPANIES today have a specific individual, perhaps even an entire organization, who is responsible for corporate objectives and oversight in quality, environmental issues, and safety, there seems to be a stigma attached to the same level of oversight for standards. In fact, most companies, though they may have dozens or even hundreds of employees participating in the standards community, still perceive “standards stuff” to be simply a technical contribution rather than the fundamental business issue it really is. In reality, standards are a complicated issue in today’s global economy and should be addressed as part of the company’s strategic plan. Yes, participation in technical standards committees is important. But the other side of the coin is strategic involvement in the management organizations and boards that run the technical committees. The standards professional is an individual whose primary job function is to work on the management committees of both domestic and international standards developing organizations (SDOs). Rather than working on near-term technical issues such as size or weight or processing speed, he is involved with long-term management decisions such as “What standards are appropriate?,” “Who will create them?” and “What policies and procedures must be followed?” Negotiating the correct answers to these and other management and policy questions enables the work of the technical participants to flow more smoothly, thereby raising the return on investment of their own participation and their value to the company and global industry.