[802SEC] Notes From Geoff Thompson on How to Do a Standard
Thanks to Geoff for the following (with a few of my edits). Geoff, could you
present this at the IEEE-SA Standards Board Forum next month?
Question: I have a great idea for a new Standard. What do I do?
Answer: A good idea does not become a standard by magic. It requires
someone, or more realistically a number of people, to volunteer a lot of
time to make it happen. The likelihood of this occurring because a "good
idea" was thrown over the wall from a non-participant is approximately zero.
If you want to make your idea into a Standard then what it takes is:
1) Coming to meetings enough so that you are "familiar with the process for
submitting requests to the IEEE working groups". Possibly you already know
someone in the process that can help you.
2) Gathering a bunch of folks who are of like mind.
3) Having a member of the group (maybe even you by that time) do a stand-up
presentation as to why "this" would be a good idea and how it would mesh
into and complement the current Standard.
4) Get formal support from the Working Group to generate a PAR (IEEE Project
Authorization Request) and the associated 5 Criteria.
5) Get the PAR and 5 Criteria approved by the Working Group, the rest of 802
via the 802 Exec, the IEEE-SA Standards Board via NESCOM.
6) Get your "bunch of folks" (some subset of the Working Group) to agree on
the technical content of your proposal.
7) Get the agreement formulated into a draft in the format that it takes to
actually be a Standard.
8) Go through the formal Working Group ballot process including comment
resolution, draft revision and recirculation.
9) Go through the formal IEEE-SA Sponsor Ballot Process including comment
resolution, draft revision and recirculation.
10) Submit your completed, approved draft to the IEEE-SA Standards Board via
REVCOM.
11) Work with an IEEE-SA Publications Editor to get your draft published as
a Standard.
IEEE 802 invites you to dive in and test your idea. While the process might
look onerous, start at the first step and move forward - and you can be part
of an IEEE-SA Standard process that benefits the public.