This talk will explore the process of building and deploying the first Linux Foundation ISO standard in fourteen years in collaboration with the Joint Development Foundation. It will explain why the evolution from de facto industry standard to formal standardization was important for open source compliance in the context of areas like sale, procurement and M&A. An equal amount of time will be spent providing a guide to the journey itself, as the lessons learned are applicable to all projects building out specifications or code that seek worldwide, lasting adoption across multiple industries. The standardization process will be framed in the context of timely engagement, with SPDX queued to be the second Joint Development Foundation PAS submission behind OpenChain, and everyone involved ready to support more projects undertaking a similar journey in the months and years ahead. In practical terms, this talk will allow the audience to come away with a clear understanding of how we will take open source and standards to the next level.