Standards

Ugh! Standards! Typical IT guy thing to talk about isn't it? Actually yes, and I thought it'd be boring until I thought about what they (standards) mean to me at home too. Standards are important for many reasons both in a big company and at in your house too.

I'll mix some home and corporate print reasons below so we all don't fall asleep.

Home: I adopted a memory chip standard at home. Sound crazy? I can swap cards among both cameras, Taylor's Ipaq, 2 MP3 players and only need one type of reader for the computers.

Work: Buying devices from one vendor significantly reduces the number of models of (printer, PC, copier, etc.) Support takes less time & costs less, cost of consummables is lower, install time is lower.

Home: Buying devices from one vendor significantly reduces the number of models of (printer, PC, copier, etc.) Support takes less time & costs less, cost of consummables is lower, install time is lower. Doh! Wait a sec, it's the same as above! It applies.

Work: Placement standards. If you let everyone buy devices whenever they want and place them whereever they want you end up with a mess! Place devices with a set of standards and a plan and the run rate for your company will go down, in some cases significantly.

Home: I use one guy to work on my cars. I trust them. They know what I have, know what's been done and make sure I have a reliable vehicle.

Work: Support was mentioned earlier, imagine having 1000 printers to manage. Now, would you prefer them to be 3 models from the same vendor or flavor of the day? Can you imagine that some companies buy flavor of the day? Sounds obvious doesn't it? Lack of standards can kill ya!

Home: Speaking of kill ya . . . Don't underestimate the importance of electrical standards. I've run into speaker wire or lamp wire too many times to know people do. If you don't know how to do electrical things correctly in your home hire someone. Is saving $200 worth putting yourself and family in danger?