Why Best Practices are Losers

by Michael W. McLaughlin on January 28, 2010

(I completely agree with this blog post about the drawbacks of over-reliance on best practices. Just because a method worked in one situation does not guarantee that it will applicable to another scenario. Innovation and creative thinking will always help you blend historical successes with new approaches to find the unique mix of solutions that are best for your company.)

If you spend any time with a service provider, it won’t be long before you hear how the use of so-called “best practices” will pave the way to client success.

Using the best practices developed by other organizations, you’ll hear, will accelerate the design of a solution to most any problem. Listening to this, you’d think best practices were silver bullets.

The problem with the best practices approach is that it usually doesn’t work.

Starting any project with a canned solution narrows your focus to how you will implement that solution, instead of broadening your thinking about what should be done. I’m not suggesting that professionals blindly use the best practices of others without some consideration of the client’s situation. What can (and does) happen, though, is that teams begin with an analysis of how to make someone else’s answer work when they should devise innovations for the situation they face.

What makes the use of best practices even more dangerous is that it’s a follower’s strategy. By leaning on the well-worn solutions of others, you’re dooming your client to a future of following the pack, not leading it.

Of course, there is value in learning from the experience of others. If another organization has addressed a similar issue, it’s helpful to know what they did. And best practices can jog your thoughts and maybe even inspire you.

But as a tool for guiding strategic initiatives, it’s a real loser. Remember, one company’s best practice can too easily become another’s sunk cost.