Setting the Standard - RFI & production processes

I read an interesting article on Creativity Online recently about a project from US company B-Reel who are attempting to produce an industry standard for digital and integrated production.

http://www.stndrd.org

Their open source idea is based on a wiki, i.e. they are inviting agencies to define and develop the brief within the industry itself.

Given the disparity in the number of RFPs, as well as the lack of information supplied by some clients for digital production this can only be a good thing. Right?

While industry standards exist in many offline processes digital is playing catch-up. But can this realistically work in a industry that changes so rapidly. Or is that the genius of this idea? It's the best way to document a constantly moving goal-post.

I think it's a great idea that needs support from all the big players to make a realistic goal. (And so far the beta site doesn't have that kind of support). However, without clients buying into it I don't think it will ever get off the ground. Without their support, it will only ever become an internal document for agencies to flesh out as best they can from the information supplied.

If successful, I'd like to see this project take on another process that is in desperate need of some attention or standardisation, the RFI. However, there are two big reasons why this is a much harder nut to crack.

First of all it seems unrealistic for clients to believe they have the same requirements as another company. But at an RFI stage they often do, or they are at least similar enough to warrant at least a set of standard industry specific questions.

The second is that in many examples it is the procurement department that owns the tender process and sometimes they aren't the best placed people to be setting the questions. There is a degree of digital knowledge required to craft the more technical RFI questions, that if not applied, can lead to confusing or contradictory requests.

I wish B-Reel all the best and have forwarded details of the project to the relevant people here. Who knows where it could lead to.

I'd be interested in hearing other people's thoughts on this. Now back to this RFI ;-)

Barnaby Ellis
UK Head of Digital