[Sigia-l] AIfIA Goals 2004 Survey Results

[david_fiorito at vanguard.com]

"david_fiorito at vanguard.com" wrote:

>> Standards become important when the company is larger and projects can
>> span years multiple IAs.  Standards allow your work to endure, to be
>> easily adapted, and to be easily translated.

>Nonsense.

<snip irrelevant quotations>

A lack of standards has some very real effects that cause costs to rise. 
Idiosyncratic deliverables may not scale as projects change over time, 
interpretation of said deliverables will vary causing errors that will 
require rework, duplication of effort creeps in, territorialism, etc.

Standards provide structure.  Rigid adherence to standards is problematic 
but not nearly as problematic as anarchy.

>> We have found that standards for design, deliverables, process, and the 
like
>> are critical to long-term success.

>And what would those "standards" be? Navbar on the left, links in blue,
>Visio for charts?

Possibly.  If a corporation has a sprawling complex of sites where 
navigation, text treatment, basic architecture, and other design features 
are not standardized then branding, user experience, and over-all user 
satisfaction levels can suffer.  Standards allow corporations to present 
coherent sites to their users regardless of how many teams work on those 
sites.

>Finally the last refuge: here come the licensors!

... and thank God for them.  When is the last time you complained about 
Doctors being board certified or lawyers having to pass the bar.