Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1532052
40 SMT007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2025 We realize time is money, and everyone is a vol- unteer from their companies. People may wonder what the time commit- ment is to be a volunteer. It depends on how much preparation you do. We hope you will come to a meeting having fully read all the doc- umentation, but it's not required. You can just sit in on a meeting and listen to the conversa- tion. We don't discourage that. LaRont: Are all standards committees struc- tured with an A-Team and a larger task group? Most are. A few are still working on concepts and planning to form their A-Team. Our pro- cess is identified in our committee policies, and standardization procedures provide a higher-level look at how we develop and pro- duce a standard. It's the attention to detail that ensures everyone has a positive experience. Leaders may ask for an action to be addressed by an A-Team. A-Teams are an excellent way to get more deeply involved. ey are small teams, no more than 15 people, that are focused on a topic or concern from the industry, and they oen meet multiple times on video calls to discuss the topic and prepare their informa- tion for the larger group. vide data to support it? Do you have time to talk to the committee members or the A-Team working it? e answer typically is they'd love to be a part of that process. Also, when they go back to their company, they can share why they shouldn't be doing a certain process. If someone asks, "Does this look good?" they can now say, "No, and here is the ramification for that." Johnson: Right. You get the context of how the decision was made and that's a valuable technical resource. ere's a set of specifications that give you the "shall" requirements—the things you have to do—and then there's a set of guidance docu- ments that talk about the whys, the reasoning behind it. ese are the things you should be doing in your process. It's important to under- stand the difference between those two docu- ments but not to confuse them. Many times, the tribal knowledge in our guidance documents is the information that will help you to make an informed decision. Is that requirement in the standard something I want to use because I know it's a requirement for this reason, or is it something else? Does my product go beyond that standard? Perhaps I need to take exception to that detail in my internal engineering documentation and rec- ognize that the standard is an industry consen- sus document and that my product has a differ- ent set of customer requirements. In that case, I will need to make sure my engineering docu- mentation meets my customer's requirements. Of course, engineering documentation always takes precedence over IPC standards. I encourage everyone at the IPC APEX EXPO to stop in and see what a committee is like—especially on a topic they're interested in—so that they know what's going on in the industry and how it happens. If they have any time to contribute or to sit and listen to con- versation, we welcome them with open arms. Johnson: Teresa, thank you. SMT007 " It's the aention to detail that ensures everyone has a positive experience. " Johnson: Can you talk about the dissenting views? Sometimes, knowing what didn't get into the standard is more valuable than what did. Why is that? Absolutely. Typically, there's a lot of conversa- tion behind what's being asked. e important thing is the attention to detail we give when someone submits their comment. We'll ask you to tell us the background and explain why you chose that recommendation. Can you pro-