Develop Standards

Learn about the Standards Development Lifecycle, how to participate in standards development, search for working groups and standards in development and much more!

HOW ARE WORKING GROUPS GOVERNED?

A Working Group usually has a hierarchy of officers to ensure that the work proceeds smoothly. There must be a Working Group chair, as shown on the PAR. The Working Group chair is appointed by the Sponsor. In some cases, the Working Group chair will serve for a finite, defined term or will go through regular votes of confirmation from the working group depending on the Sponsor rules. It is the role of the chair to provide leadership and guidance during the standards development process, helping move towards completion of the finished standard. The chair also serves as a point of contact for people who have technical questions or comments about the content of the standard.

The Working Group chair will plan the meetings and organize the work. It also helps if the chair delegates assignments for developing parts of the standard to members of the Working Group.

The chair may also choose to have other officers in the Working Group, such as a vice chair, secretary, or technical editor. All of these roles could aid the chair and the group in moving their project forward. A vice chair can assist the chair in all areas, including running the meeting when the chair is absent or wishes to recuse themself.

The secretary serves as recordkeeper, taking and maintaining minutes of meetings, lists of action items, and rosters of attendees. The secretary may also send out mailings of minutes, papers, and drafts to the committee. The technical editor works specifically on maintaining the draft standard, a process that may be complicated. The technical editor also works as a liaison with an IEEE-SA Project Editor to detect and solve any problems early in the development process and to ensure the integrity of the standard in the publication process after approval.

If needed, a treasurer may also serve in the working group, collecting and processing any meeting dues and handling any bills that are incurred. A ballot coordinator works on distributing the tasks involved in ballot resolution so that they move more quickly. These positions are often filled by the chair, but there is nothing to preclude working group election of these roles if it is felt to be necessary.

Examples of Working Group Officers:

  • Chair
  • Vice-Chair
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Technical Editor
  • Ballot Coordinator
  • International Standards Liaison