Three Reasons Not to Like Best Practices

Context is everything

In my line of business, the term “best practices” is common. It’s an abbreviation for the sum of all experiences people have had, condensed into how-to instructions, design or behavior patterns, lessons-learned documents, and so on, all collected to a “best practices” document. In my mind, the term is a dangerous exaggeration of what is really delivered.

To stay competitive in the business world, we must find and maintain a balance between standard operating procedures and innovation. We operate in a quickly changing environment and the very term “best practices” can be an impediment to innovation and kaizen if adhered to with undue fervor. Consider the following three points.

…

Want to continue?

By logging in you agree to receive communication from Quality Digest. Privacy Policy.

Create a FREE account

Forgot My Password

Comments

Good thinking ...

... Mr. Woinowski: I don't like best practices, too, because they seem to me like almost unchangeable monoliths. I much prefer adaptability to the "as is" conditions or situation - or context, as you say. But it seems that most people don't want their brain to be shaken, they prefer - as the song goes - rest comfortably numb, and do things as they've always done.

Adaptability is key

I agree, monoliths in that sense are dangerous. Especially, when the so-called best practice is just what a small number of people have tried without looking left or right for even better solutions...

Change 'Best Practice' to 'Note Worthy Achievement'

Someone smarter than me once said that there is nothing more sacred than an instituted evil. Great ideas, once commonly deployed can loose their effectiveness long before people recognize a problem. I have found that objective review (5S, Internal Audits, etc) of current practices resists the instituted evil problem.