Why? And in relation to What?
After much research and consultation (ok, an hour of tweets), it has been agreed that the next time you hear/read about a “best practice” you have to think/respond “Why? And in relation to What?” Sound good to you?
“Who gives a damn!” I hear you shriek. Well, best practice is big business (isn’t it, itSMF?). On twitter there’s a constant stream of best practice tweets. We get best practice shoved down our throats all the time (ITIL anyone?). I would bet a rare Yorkshire quid that few of the people touting best practices can articulate both Why and In Relation to What.
If a best practice is defined as “superior to other practices”, then what are those other practices? And why is one superior to the others? It just might be that in my situation another practice might be best. What’s best for you might not be best for me, right? But you can’t know that, so we are still friends.
I’ll be honest: best practices appeal to my lazy self. If someone else has done all the heavy lifting then why not leverage their hard work? Aren’t best practices a form of altruism? Well, that’s a bit of a trusting approach in an untrusting world. What if the author is lazy too? What if that auther just lifted their best practice from someone else, ad infinitum? Now nobody knows why its a best practice, reason is lost in time, and we all go baa.
FWIW I give a damn because my lazy self really wants to use best practices but because of my irksome sense of self preservation I have to do a bit more homework before I reuse any existing best practices… and in fact, this attitude means I can’t take someone else’s short cuts and makes me into an ever more cynical person.
So, here’s three things I’m going to do from now on and I encourage you, Dear Reader, to do the same:
- If you feel the words “best practice” bubbling from your brain to your mouth, make sure you can answer the Why and In Relation To What questions.
- If you are writing a best practice then you must include text that answers the Why and In Relation To What questions. Otherwise, you are just recommending a practice (ie. not best).
- If your ears ever hear the words “best practice” from someones mouth or in see them in print, make sure you think Why and In Relation To What and unless you have at least one counterpoint, just downgrade it to a practice (i.e. remove the best). Ask the author, Why? and In relation to what? They might have a superb answer that we can all learn from.
Up for it? Let’s start now. Personally I never recommend best practices I only recommend suitable practices to match the requirements but that’s another story…
Comments