[thelist] Re: Why code for standards

Bill Haenel bill at webmarketingworx.com
Mon Feb 4 12:58:06 CST 2002


> The fact that small businesses are excluded from standards groups by the
> mere fact that the way the standards groups are organized and the
> price for
> membership is so high,  not to mention the prudish attitudes of
> many of the
> standards group leaders......makes a lot of the "standards" information,
> especially during the standards development process, unavailable to the
> smaller, independent, non - corporate sector professional groups.
>
> Bev

The last company I worked for had 32 employees and just completed obtaining
their ISO reg when I left. Getting that registration is most expensive when
you're talking about converting a company that is not in compliance to one
that is. This is a major undertaking because usually it involves converting
hundreds or thousands (even for a small company) of established
non-compliant, non-documented procedures into compliant ones.

In short, if you want to be registered and you're already in compliance,
it's no as bad. If not, it's kind of like rebuilding an engine. That's one
really big reason why we should all start now, when it's NOT required. This
will happen eventually, it's inevitable. A website is an intrinsic part of a
company's communication process, and as such will ultimately be covered
under the ISO umbrella.

One more key point: If you're a small business and can't get registered, you
don't have to. Many big corporations that are ISO reg'd are supplied by
smaller ones that aren't. Ford for example requires that all of their
suppliers have a documented quality control system in place, i.e., vaguely
meet ISO specs. They make you fill out a form documenting you compliance and
how you maintain it. What they don't do is require that you are ISO
REGISTERED. They ask you to say if you are or not, but only because their
quality control system mandates that they have that info documented.

The result is that it behooves a small company to follow standards and more
importantly have a quality control system in place. It also behooves the
entire industry to have those standards and comply with them. For us as
webdevers, that means perhaps we will all have the benefit of being able to
speak the same language of quality and standards, but not all of us will
need to pay financially for it. I can't wait until NN and IE have to meet
that same standards or lose their ISO reg. Then, maybe we'll be able to
concentrate on doing quality work instead of doing quality that works.

BH




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