Have you ever bought that do-it your self furniture? Sure it looks great in the store but by the time you’ve assembled it you have 6 extra screws and it looks more like a modern art exhibit. When you examine why it never looked like it did at the store usually it’s from not reading the instructions and when you do it’s not being familiar with where slot B is in relation to tab A.
In the do-it your self furniture business, the Swedish company IKEA has spent millions of dollars over time to develop an easy set of language less symbol based instructions that try to take the frustration out if finding slot B and tab A. Their documentation became a collection of standardization that’s been used and copied the world over.
So what’s the point? Its documentation, IKEA developed an easy standardized method to deliver instructions on the construction of their products.
The audio visual industry isn’t so lucky; we really don’t have any standardization for documentation. Often companies develop their own, to maintain a measure or quality that can be used for easier design, installation, but at times ends up as more of a marketing tool, or followed with a fast and lose philosophy.
The central point is the industry needs to document the work it produces. We need to develop an easy standardized method to deliver instructions on the construction and implementation of integrated systems.
