A while back I had the opportunity to present to an IT gathering on improving IT effectiveness. One of my points was on the importance of setting standards. I was challenged during the Q&A that setting standards would stifle innovation. My response was having standards could have a very beneficial impact on innovation. There is an analogy that I think illustrates my point.I decided to purchase and set a flagpole. As I had never set a flag pole before, I went on line to get instructions on how to do the job. Good thing I did because I was expecting to set the poles directly in cement. While digging a hole and cement are involved in the process, I found out that flag poles are actually set in dry sand. The process is to dig a hole, and then pore cement around a large tube that is centered in the hole. The flag pole is set into the tube that is then filled with sand to keep it in place. As I dug the hole I got to thinking about why this set up is used. The reason is that the design holds the flag pole in place, while allowing it to flex and shift as the wind hits the pole and flag. In other words, the pole shifts and adapts its position to adapt to changes in the environment.Like the flag pole we want our solution to hold up to changing conditions, and extreme challenges, with consistent results. If we build solutions within a structured framework but provide flexibility within that framework the result is a much more robust solution. By having a known consistent way of doing things, it is easier to try new approaches and understand their impact. Those things that work can then be kept, and the things that don’t work can be jettisoned. Once something good is identified it can be scaled and deployed much more rapidly by adjusting from a known environment. The key in all this is to have a continuous improvement mindset. Your standards should be known, but they can never be permanent.