Welcome to The Unstandardized
Standards, power, and markets – without the institutional complacency.
I write about how international standards really work: as instruments of power, as plumbing for global markets, and as quiet levers of industrial and trade policy. Think of it as a backstage tour of ISO, IEC, regulators, and the ecosystem of public‑private bodies that claim to “coordinate” the world – told from someone who has sat at the table for decades rather than from the press release.
If you care about how rules are made (and by whom), how “voluntary” standards become de facto law, or why technical committees suddenly show up in geopolitical speeches, you are in the right place. The Unstandardized is for people who work with standards professionally – in SDOs, regulators, companies, and policy circles – and for those who sense that this hidden infrastructure now matters far beyond compliance checklists.
What you’ll find here
Here is what you’ll get when you subscribe to The Unstandardized:
Essays that unpack the political economy of standardization, from WTO rules and EU regulation to U.S., Chinese, and global strategies for technical influence.
Analysis of how standards organizations are changing: governance, funding models, digitalization, conflicts of interest, and the tension between “public good” language and commercial reality.
Case‑driven pieces on specific standards, committees, and policy files, showing how decisions were actually made and what they mean for industry and regulators.
Reflections on fragmentation, interoperability, and what happens when global consensus starts to fray.
The tone is analytical, less academic paper, more field notes from someone who has spent years inside the machinery and is now willing to talk plainly about how it works.
Who I am
I have spent most of my career in and around international standardization, in senior leadership roles at major standards organizations and in advisory roles to governments, regulators, and companies. I have chaired committees, negotiated governance reforms, survived budget debates, and helped design strategies that shaped how standards are produced, sold, and referenced in law.
Now I work as a strategic advisor, board member, and writer. The Unstandardized is where I connect that lived experience with a broader audience of practitioners, policy‑makers, and curious insiders who want to understand both the formal story and the informal reality.
Why subscribe
By subscribing you will get:
Regular essays that go beyond surface commentary and explain the system logic behind individual news items.
A practitioner’s perspective on what proposed reforms, new regulations, or institutional changes will actually do in practice.
Occasional deep dives on business models, governance experiments, and the future of the international standards “industry.”
Over time, paid support will also make it possible to experiment with additional formats, such as interviews with key actors, explainers for specific regulatory files, or annotated “case dossiers” on important standards battles.
If your work touches standards, regulation, conformity assessment, or global trade – or if you are simply standard‑curious and tired of sanitized narratives – I think you will find The Unstandardized a useful, and occasionally provocative, companion.
Subscribe and join The Unstandardized community
Join and subscribe to get full access to The Unstandardized. You will never miss an update, every new post is sent directly to your email. You will also have access to the full publication archives.
Become part of a community of people who share your interests and expertise in standardization. Participate in the comments section, or simply support “The Unstandardized” with a subscription.
