As I read about Toyota’s totally bizarre recall it reminded me a lot about some of the things I see happening around architecture and standardization in the IT world. Basically, the US government is forcing Toyota to recall its cars to change the way that it protects children riding in car seats (which removes the problem all together) for one that meets standards (which is less safe).

What we are seeing here is conformity, which implies submission to an outside authority that is devoid of choice. This is very different from standardization, where a group defines and follows a standard for interoperability for their own good.  A thug ensures conformity, a leader defines a standard.

All too often we see things like this in the IT world. Often Architects are the one who are creating, propagating, and enforcing standards that have a large impact on others. And, we can force people to do things the wrong way for (what we think are) the right reasons. I made a list of some things that I have learned about standardization from an information architecture point of view. Hopefully they will be helpful for others as well.
When you are dealing with standards ….

1. Begin with the end in mind — Realize that a standard is something that has a lifecycle that lasts long beyond deciding on things. A good standard will be around a lot longer than just the time it takes to define it and it will be used and enforced primarily by people other than those who decided on it. Unfortunately, most people lose interest in standards shortly after deciding how everyone else is going to do things.
   
2. Keep your eye on the horizon – It was Wayne Gretzky who said, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” Don’t make yourself look like a buffoon by defining things with the latest buzzwords or by painting yourself into a corner with yesterday’s technologies.
3. Watch the attitude – When enforcing standards, it isn’t the principle that is important, it is the long term success of your organization. Period. Keep your ego out of it.
4. Pick your battles – If someone can do things better than you can, support them and learn from them. Focus on making allies, not winning arguments.
5. Conserve your credibility – Keep in mind that one or two bad standards can spur a real crisis of confidence in your abilities. It doesn’t matter if these failures are your fault, the fault of others, or of the organization as a whole. If you define ‘em, you own ‘em.
6. Be Pragmatic — A bad standard that is unusable has the same result as a great standard that is unusable.  A standard that is complely unrealistic has (at best) the same result as no standard at all.  Also, realize that declining to standardize is, in fact, an architectural standard.
7. Be Flexible – In the end, what we don’t know always dwarfs what we do. Realize that it is very possible that with the best intentions, the best information, the best tools, and the best people you can still be dead wrong. Your best defense for this is to be humble, ready for change, and able to seize opportunities to improve on your work.

Have I left anything out?

technorati tags:standardization, ETL, information architecture, information quality

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 12th, 2006 at 2:33 pm and is filed under Information Architecture, In the News, People, Understanding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.