🎉 𝟐𝟓 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 🎉 I got a surprise recognition today from Standards Australia. Here are some reflections:
1. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. I started my involvement as a PhD student in industrial standards – LIXI for Australia’s lending industry, pushing for standards adoption by leading the creation of process/system reference architecture implementations. It was scary to release code to the entire lending industry, but it was a rewarding experience and instilled in me the spirit of adoption and practical guides.
2. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐨. My involvement in software architecture standards WG42 (the answer to everything) was a good balance of research and industry. While the industry was all about modelling/UMLs, the evaluation methods were often driven by academia. This experience taught me how to navigate the boundary between research and mature industry best practices.
3. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬. My next major chapter was Australia’s international leading role in blockchain standards. Australia was the country that proposed it and secured the international chair position. I served as the inaugural national chair for 7 years before passing it to the capable hands of Gayan Benedict this March. This experience taught me how to deal with rapidly evolving tech. It went through the hype cycle from the most crowded committee with a long waiting list to the winters and to the current enlightenment stage.
4. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬.  An impactful standard I was involved in was my research unit hosting the first few years of the Data Standard Body(DSB) of Consumer Data Right (CDR). When things impact diverse stakeholders, conflicts are inevitable. Every technical decision borders on political decisions and competing business/consumer interests. Hosting it and observing impartially while talking to successive directors I hired got me to appreciate the conflict between politics and expertise and different technical leadership styles.
5. 𝐀𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞. Fast forward to now. I feel I am putting everything I have learned into AI standards. Being part of Australia’s AI Safety Standard Working Group and involved in a myriad of AI standards efforts, I can attest that AI standards face all the challenges: the frontier models are emerging tech at its extreme, research is inevitably part of the technical standard setting, it’s about adoption, especially to SMEs, and things directly impacting billions. I feel fortunate to be at this junction and look forward to continuing my journey in standards, possibly making the last standards before AI takes over ;-}. 🤖