[ Product / Process ]

Standards and procedures are created, written, and managed as documents or artefacts.  In other words, they are written outputs to represent a thought process.  The most important part of standardisation is in the processes that they represent.  It’s almost impossible to cover every possibility, and yet the standard has to cover enough for it to be useful.

Standards and procedures make knowledge, skills, and decision-making visible.  They are physical artefacts attempting to represent complex thought processes, which happen instantaneously and in a non-linear way.  They codify a process, including decision-making and application of judgement in the face of incomplete information.