thingsguidelines

Thingsguidelines is a framework of guidelines designed to help describe, design, and govern physical and digital “things”—including devices, services, data models, and their interactions—in modern connected ecosystems. The aim is to foster clarity, interoperability, privacy, and sustainability across diverse domains such as consumer electronics, industrial equipment, and software services.

Origin and scope: The concept emerged from collaborative standardization and best-practice movements in IT, product design, and data governance during the 2010s and 2020s. It provides a flexible, domain-agnostic set of artifacts that can be adapted to specific use cases, regulatory environments, and organizational contexts. Core outputs typically include naming conventions, data schemas, interface descriptors, lifecycle guidance, and security and privacy considerations.

Principles and components: Thingsguidelines emphasize: clear and consistent labeling of objects and their properties; interoperable data representations; privacy-by-design and security-by-default practices; accessibility for diverse users; lifecycle management from creation to retirement; and environmental and social sustainability.

Applications: Organizations use thingsguidelines to inform product requirements, device documentation, API design, data governance, and compliance audits. It supports cross-domain interoperability by providing reusable patterns, such as common metadata schemas, interface description practices, and audit-friendly records.

Governance and limitations: Maintenance is typically community-driven or stewarded by a standards program, with versioning, public documentation, and contribution policies. Critics note that without alignment to existing standards, adoption can lead to fragmentation.

See also: Internet of Things, data governance, product design guidelines, ISO/IEC standards.