At work we’re pushing the idea of Honest Practices over Best Practices. Honest Practices are stories and analysis that include both successes and failures—the latter being something nonprofits often omit (or reframe). Our focus on developing Honest Practices stems from frustration with the meaninglessness of many “Best Practices” that are out there. 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. The idea is that with proper processes, checks, and testing, a desired outcome can be delivered with fewer problems and unforeseen complications. Best practices can also be defined as the most efficient (least amount of effort) and effective (best results) way of accomplishing a task, based on repeatable procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people.
Despite the need to improve on processes as times change and things evolve, best-practice is considered by some as a business buzzword used to describe the process of developing and following a standard way of doing things that multiple organizations can use for management, policy, and especially software systems.
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.”
I really want to toss {{Citation Needed}} after the suggestion that “good ideas” is a suitable replacement for what was formerly known as Best Practices. But that would be too Honest.
Related posts:
- God didn't do Best Practices The best Sunday sermon I have ever heard (out of 2, the other having been when I was 8 and...
- Principles of Organizational Development Practice From the Organizational Development Network: Definition of OD Organization Development is a dynamic values-based approach to systems change in organizations...
- Management Theories and Interventions Behavioral Performance management Reward policies Values translated into behaviours Management competencies Skills training Management style Performance coaching 360 degree feedback...
- I am now a Technology of Participation facilitator Last week I completed a 2 day Technology of Participation Facilitator training. Developed by the Institute of Cultural Affairs, the...
- Academia on the experience of poverty It takes a lot of words for academia to say “We’re can’t describe the experience of poverty”. This is from...
