An Empirical Analysis of Development Processes for Anticipatory Standards

There is an evolution in the process used by standards-developmentorganizations (SDOs) and this is changing the prevailing standardsdevelopment activity (SDA) for information and communications technology(ICT). The process is progressing from traditional SDA modes, typicallyinvolving the selection from many candidate, existing alternativecomponents, into the crafting of standards that include a substantialdesign component (SSDC), or 'anticipatory' standards. SSDC requireincreasingly important roles from organizational players as well asSDOs. Few theoretical frameworks exist to understand these emergingprocesses. This project conducted archival analysis of SDO documents fora selected subset of web-services (WS) standards taken from publiclyavailable sources including minutes of meetings, proposals, drafts andrecommendations. This working paper provides a deeper understanding ofSDAs, the roles played by different organizational participants and thecompliance with SDO due process requirements emerging from public policyconstraints, recent legislation and standards accreditationrequirements. This research is influenced by a recent theoreticalframework that suggests viewing the new standards-setting processes as acomplex interplay among three forces: sense-making, design, andnegotiation (DSN). The DSN model provides the framework for measuringSDO progress and therefore understanding future generations of standardsdevelopment processes. The empirically grounded results are usefulfoundation for other SDO modeling efforts.