Performance/Prescriptive

Many technical solutions are guided or directed by national technical standards.  There are two types of approaches to standardisation:  prescriptive or performance based.  Prescriptive standards give specific direction as to how a technical solution must be arrived at, like a cookbook recipe.  There is very little room for innovation.  The other type is performance-based, where requirements are stated for outcomes or results, without specifying how the user should arrive there.  This approach relies heavily on the competence and sound judgement of the user.  Controversially, it’s possible that the next generation doesn’t have the technical background to appropriately apply performance-based standards.