I’ve had the same problem for the last 15 years 
I do count myself lucky to be able to take some more time to think… but yes, it’s pretty hard.
It’s ridiculous, right!? It’s the exact peer development problem. I mean, if you asked someone from Huawei or Ericsson, they would think we’re delusional, because there are standards - many, and they’re all misnamed, eg. I just read about the “CPRI” (“Common Public Radio Interface”). The problem is that their standards are expensive to implement, and thus out of reach, and impractical, for those who stand to benefit from it the most.
Source: xkcd: Standards
More information: 927: Standards - explain xkcd
I guess it’s a bit of an art to not over-engineer it, and to not leave it too open ended either, and to apply it in the right context - there are many to consider… it’s got to be of use, and it’s got to add enough value so that it will gain widespread adoption and create a trajectory towards something more usable.
This is exactly the step 2. I have seen the word “shim” many times, but I never thought about what a “shim” is… so we learn! Thanks!
It’s pretty amazing really - everything is glued together with standards. Literally… you’re raising an important point that is worth clarifying: perhaps the usability or UI needs to be part of the standard, actually, or perhaps we simply need to look for UI or usability standards and apply some of them to our world.
Well, I’m glad I’ve found a space where it looks like this discussion can grow and hopefully flower 