He made his coffee of instant coffee grounds, sugar, milk, and water, just like me. He used a large mug and stirred with a teaspoon, so did I. He took around 40 seconds to prepare his coffee, me too. His coffee tasted good, mine too. But there was a fundamental difference between our two cups of coffee:

The method of preparation.

I poured water first and then added coffee. He did it the opposite way. I added sugar at the very end, whereas he added it at the beginning. He used his right hand to pour milk; I used my left hand.

If we got the same outcome, why would any standard be beneficial?

Two words: Problem-solving.

Suppose someone starts complaining about tiny droplets of milk on the workbench. In such a situation, a good standard could help identify flaws in the process. How is the milk being taken out? Where is it placed? How is the lid opened? When, where, and how is the milk poured?

If you have two or more standards, you will have two or more answers for every question you ask. As complexity increases, you end up wasting time to deal with a problem that, without a common standard, will be impossible to solve.

A good standard enables problem-solving.

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