Truth and specious urban myths

Gary S Robinson

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 1997)

As I was writing my next column on standards developing organizations (SDOs), I came across an article in a trade paper that derided standards and standardization. While I understand the value of sarcasm (especially to produce a column and attract attention), a fundamental of good sarcasm is some relationship to truth and reality. The article attempted (apparently using sarcasm) to make several points: there were too many standards, standards took too long to develop, standards were just marketing efforts, SDOs were archaic, and users were lost. I am bothered by poor sarcasm, since it borders on ridicule. Poor ridicule when coupled with an uninformed person wielding a pen is even more irritating. So I'm forced to respond with some actual information, rather than a group of unrelated and specious urban myths.