Comments on: There are no Best Practices

By: Five Blogs – 21 April 2012 « 5blogs

Five Blogs – 21 April 2012 « 5blogs — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 07:22:53 +0000

[...] There are no Best Practices Written by: Mark Levison [...]

By: Spotlight Interview with Mark Levison | LogiGear Magazine

Spotlight Interview with Mark Levison | LogiGear Magazine — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:40:36 +0000

[...] I’m unsure what you mean by realistic, that suggests a limitation I’m not aware of in the abilities of your team members. I’ve already listed the key areas for improvement when I mentioned development teams including testing, making testing part of the development process and ATDD. As for the “Best Practice” there are none, just good practices in the current context. (There are no Best Practices) [...]

By: Podcast #6 – Notícias de março | Blog da Bluesoft

Podcast #6 – Notícias de março | Blog da Bluesoft — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:53:52 +0000

[...] There are no Best Practices por Mark Levison [...]

By: Podcast #6 – Notícias de março « Blog da Bluesoft

Podcast #6 – Notícias de março « Blog da Bluesoft — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:14:36 +0000

[...] There are no Best Practices por Mark Levison [...]

By: Ari Shinozaki

Ari Shinozaki — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 16:47:19 +0000

In some circles, people refer to best-known-practice – rather than best-practice. It has the advantage of avoiding there-is-no-better-practice-like language. The condition and context elements still apply.

By: Kevin Thompson

Kevin Thompson — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:41:22 +0000

@Mark – I’ve just started reading “Practices for Scaling Lean and Agile Development,” and see this on page 4:

“There are no best practices–only adequate practices in context.”

Great minds think alike!

By: Kirk Bryde

Kirk Bryde — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:35:46 +0000

@Mark, on that note, I couldn’t agree with you more!

By: Mark Levison

Mark Levison — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:38:58 +0000

Kirk thanks for the comment. You’re right the wikipedia defn gets across some of the nuance. My problem isn’t wikipedia it’s human beings who hear latch on to the word best and assume it means we’re done and can stop improving. If one of those humans reads this post and never thinks about the phrase the same way again then I’ve succeeded.

By: Siddharta

Siddharta — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:08:54 +0000

I think the motivation behind the question is really to see where they stand with respect to the industry. The meaning I understand from the questions is “what are other people doing that we should be looking at”. In that sense, best practices is synonymous with industry standard.

By: Kirk Bryde

Kirk Bryde — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:37:28 +0000

From Wikipedia: A best practice is a technique, method, process, activity, incentive, or reward that is believed to be more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. when applied to a particular condition or circumstance.
…
A given best practice is only applicable to particular condition or circumstance and may have to be modified or adapted for similar circumstances. In addition, a “best” practice can evolve to become better as improvements are discovered.
…
As the term has become more popular, some organizations have begun using the term “best practices” to refer to what are in fact merely ‘rules’, causing a linguistic drift in which a new term such as “good ideas” is needed to refer to what would previously have been called “best practices.”
…
Because of the use of best-practice as a buzzword, some people are asking if a better term could be found. This could be something such as “better practices”, or “current thinking”.
…
The term “better practices” seems to seek better ways, which may even lead to tweaking the suggested practice to make it even better. …

@Mark, I understand what you’re saying, but I think the Wikipedia definition covers it quite well, including your points that context is important, and there’s always room for improvement. I think you’re taking the word “best” too literally, rather than taking the well-defined and well-known term “best practices” for what it REALLY means – as described by Wikipedia (for example). Dare I say that you need to use the term “best practices” with the meaning and in the context for which it’s well-known? ;)