What is the Circle of Standards?
The Circle of Standards is a three-stage cycle that enables the successful adoption and continued implementation of standards by addressing their management, related training and communication, and continual review.
The Circle can be applied to any discipline, including branding, content, design, and development.
The first phase of this process is the creation and documentation of standards. “Standards” refers broadly to rules, guidelines, and best practices which are documented as part of a style guide, pattern library, or similar repository. A good standard is written in clear language and sets rules for the reader to follow.
As the standards take shape, communication and training is crucial as it keeps your audience informed about what’s going to be required of them. You may be able to experiment a bit with communication formats and frequency, but try to establish a pattern that works for the audience and for the frequency with which changes are made to the standards. Training is needed for new hires and when significant changes are made to the standards.
Although standards are defined and people have been trained, a project approval and review process will ensure that standards are applied properly. Work milestones such as design and code review into the project schedule and use those reviews not only to ensure adherence to the standards but also to keep an eye out for emerging standards that need to be documented.
At the center of the Circle is the standards champion within the organization — the standards manager. This role exists to ensure the successful execution of all stages in the Circle, and the person who fills the role must be a passionate advocate for standards. Excellent organizational and communication skills are key in this type of role.
Who came up with the Circle of Standards?
The Circle of Standards is the brain child of Kimberly Blessing, a professional standards evangelist. She started evangelizing coding standards for Web development teams in 2000, and has been crafting, evangelizing, and managing standards in large organizations on a full-time basis since 2002.
