Standards. The word brings up thoughts of rules, regulations, and inflexibility.

We need standards though. They can bring fairness. Think of rules in a game. They can bring consistency. Think of your favorite ice cream. They can help us behave. Think of norms for a meeting.

However, they can be used for evil. Standards can be unfair, not being able to return a broken product for example. They can be impractical, like due dates that cause unsafe work, and they can be wrong, bureaucratic red tape around trial drugs for a terminal disease for instance.

Standards. They bring up good and bad but we need them. They set expectations and give us guardrails. They can hold groups of people together and keep them civil. They can keep people from cutting corners. We need standards.

But we also need wisdom and discernment.

Standards need regular review and updates.

Standards need flexibility, they’re not granite.

Standards should include listening.

Standards should be thrown away when they’re past due.

Standards should always help, never hurt.

Standards. They’re useful and needed, just take caution and use them responsibly.

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