The term Best Practice is a commonly used buzzword particularly in the consulting community. I am often asked by clients to advise them on the best practice in a particular area of their IT operation and delivery, however there is rarely a clear understanding of what this actually entails.
My favourite definition is that a best practice is a technique or methodology that, through experience and research, has proven to reliably lead to a desired result. An organisation which commits to using the best practices in any field is a committing to using all the available knowledge and technology to ensure success.
However, the challenges to using Best Practice are significant.
In my experience there is rarely a single best way to undertake any given process and the effectiveness and efficiency of any solution depends on multiple factors which may be different for each organisation. In addition, the fact that a way of doing things is widely adopted or accepted may not make it the best solution, but rather it may be a commonly adopted compromise in terms of cost-benefit.
In some cases the use of best practice can be detrimental to an organisation. Another company's way of operating may be a failure in a different cultural or organisational environment. Rigorous adherence to best practice standards can serve to limit organisational improvement and innovation.
Furthermore, it is important that current processes and procedures are not simply discarded in a search for a better way since these often represent significant investment in intellectual capital and have developed over time in a way that may best suit the organisation in question.
When looking to identify best practices, we therefore look for commonly accepted standards (where they exist) and also at comparable organisations to determine how a process can be performed.
Some examples of relevant and potentially useful standards in the Information Technology world include PMBOK and PRINCE2 (Project management), TSP/PSP, Agile, RUP, UML and BPMN (Software development), ITIL and COBIT (Information technology governance), SOA, J2EE, Web Services and TOGAF (Enterprise architecture), Six Sigma and CMMI (Process improvement) and ADKAR (Change management).
Once we have selected a proposed process, in agreement with the relevant staff from within the organisation, we recommend that the new process be piloted with a small group or project to validate its operation within the target business and to begin creating organisational learning and experience which can be leveraged to support the wider adoption.
Finally, for any process regardless of whether it is existing or new, the most important step is to commit to ongoing evolution and improvement using tools such as Six Sigma to guide the future development. Ultimately, the very best practices are simply those which operate efficiently and effectively and add value to your specific business operations.
Chris Young is the founder of White Water Consulting (http://www.whitewater.com.au) and is a senior consultant with a broad knowledge and experience in financial services, change management and information technology. His areas of focus include delivering business-aligned IT strategy and implementing best practices in process improvement, project management and software development process. White Water Consulting provides practical solutions to designing and implementing information technology strategy. By remaining independent of solutions and solution providers White Water Consulting can concentrate on your actual business needs and recommend strategies that are pragmatic and cost effective.
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By Chris Young
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