Best Practices Are Relative
Not all best practices are equal. They are dependent on the context and the objectives of the activity. Two examples...
There is a best practice for opening a milk carton. The best practice is also the common practice - the way the carton was designed to be opened. Maybe there's a screw cap. Or a fold to be peeled back. But this isn't the only way. I could puncture the container with a writing pen and drain the milk out through the hole. Or cut off the top of a paper container with a pair of scissors and pour out what I need. A few folks might think it odd, but aren't likely to care much.
Now let's say after I've enjoyed a glass of milk I zoom to the airport to catch a flight. There, at 30,000 feet going 500 MPH, there is a best practice that says the door of the pressurized cabin should remain closed. It's such a high quality best practice it's a rule. There are no exceptions to this simple rule. Anyone attempting to open the cabin door while in flight is likely to garner a great deal of attention of the physically restraining variety on their way to being introduced to the judicial system.
Two best practices. Two very different contexts. Ah, you might say, but that airline thing is a RULE, a LAW! True enough. If we unpack the airline rule, we end up with a long list of truly "best” practices designed to insure the cabin door rule is followed - maintenance checklists, ground crew checklists, flight attendant checklists, and the social expectations of the passengers. But in my experience, too many workplace "best practices" end up being enforced as rules even when they aren't. Yet another form of corporate scar tissue.
Untangling where best or common practices have morphed into rules can be quite a chore. Large organizations tend to collect a lot of rule followers and procedure junkies who have a hard time loosening their grip on a rule once they've latched on to it. That can be a good thing if maintaining the status quo is important. Much less so if there is a need for creativity or innovation. Agilists in positions of coach or scrum master have to frequently wrestle with this issue and having the skill to distinguish between rules and practices is important.
Best practices are a lot like standards: There are so many to choose from. The challenge is how to choose wisely.
Photo by LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR on Unsplash