Have you ever wondered why standards are needed? What if there are no standards available? Either in personal life or work, standards are important. Standards make it easy for us to operate. It gives us predictability and reduces chances of accidents and mishaps.

 

We live by standards and cannot do without them. But when an attempt is made to implement new standard we resist change.

 

Imagine life without standards

 

1. Imagine countries do not have time standards. Then everyone will have a different time on their watch and you can imagine what will happen.

2. Imagine no two streets in a city look the same. Can you travel on road?

3. Imagine one junction uses red for STOP and another junction uses green for STOP. what will happen?

4. Imagine no two cars operate the same way. Can you drive?
5. Imagine each tap operates differently. Turning one way opens in one room, other opens in another room. What would happen?

 

and so on..

Think crazy and imagine what will happen if some of the things you notice are not standardized. Look around and see where standards have been implemented. 

I am a cautious driver and despite my cautious driving, I almost had accidents on two occasions. When I analyzed both occasions, I realized that these incidents were due to 'non-standard' design of those roads. 

Work place Standards 

 

At work places also standards make a big difference. Our expectations will not be met if no standards are followed and everyone operates in their own way. 

Most of times the standards may be enforced by making it mandatory. In some cases it may be set a guideline. 

Forms, Templates, Checklists, Processes etc evolve as organizations mature and try to achieve a standard. 

Some people resist introduction of standards as they feel 'bound' and 'restricted'. Some people find chaos when are no standards set and each one operates in a different manner. 

It is necessary to define 'good enough' processes and standards so that some predictability can be achieved. We can introduce standards for 'deliverables' but not how they are delivered. 

Standards are most often derived best practices in organizations that are found to give best results and eliminate mistakes. 

Next time you are filling a form or asked to fill a checklist, do not dismiss it as 'useless' practice. There is a reason why a standard has been established and respect that. 

Summary

Whether in day to day personal life or work life, it is good to have a standard way of doing things which reduces risks of errors and failures. Sometimes we may not be able to understand why a particular standard has been set up, but try to follow standard in spirit instead of dismissing them. 

I give lot of importance to standards and try to design and put standards in place wherever possible which reduces risks of mistakes and improves 'professional' nature of team.