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Best practice



 
 
Best practice is an idea that asserts that there is a technique, method, process, activity, incentive or reward that is 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
Buzzword

A buzzword is a vague idiom, usually a neologism, that is common to managerial, technical, administrative, and political work environments. Although meant to impress the listener with the speaker's pretense to knowledge, buzzwords render sentences opaque, difficult to understand and question, because the buzzword does not mean what it denomi...
 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 "best practices" to refer to what are in fact '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."

practices in a particular industry or other professional field can be exchanged, just like any instructional capital
Instructional capital

Instructional capital is a term used in educational administration after the 1960s, to reflect capital resulting from investment in producing learning materials....
, by any means, though Internet
Internet

The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels. Typically, a computer that connects to the Internet can access information from a vast array of available server and other computers by moving information from them to the computer's local memory....
-related information is most commonly exchanged this way:

There are numerous such efforts now in government especially in the English speaking world:

An emerging trend looms that many international organizations like to use 'best practice" methodology to promote the good systems, procedures of one country among its members.

At the same time, careful evaluation is needed before adopting any so-called best practice.






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Best practice is an idea that asserts that there is a technique, method, process, activity, incentive or reward that is 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
Buzzword

A buzzword is a vague idiom, usually a neologism, that is common to managerial, technical, administrative, and political work environments. Although meant to impress the listener with the speaker's pretense to knowledge, buzzwords render sentences opaque, difficult to understand and question, because the buzzword does not mean what it denomi...
 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 "best practices" to refer to what are in fact '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."

Exchange

Best practices in a particular industry or other professional field can be exchanged, just like any instructional capital
Instructional capital

Instructional capital is a term used in educational administration after the 1960s, to reflect capital resulting from investment in producing learning materials....
, by any means, though Internet
Internet

The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels. Typically, a computer that connects to the Internet can access information from a vast array of available server and other computers by moving information from them to the computer's local memory....
-related information is most commonly exchanged this way:
  • source code
    Source code

    In computer science, source code is any collection of statements or declarations written in some human-readable computer programming language....
  • e-democracy
    E-democracy

    E-democracy, a combination of the words "electronics" and "democracy," comprises the use of electronic communications technologies such as the Internet in enhancing democratic processes within a democratic republic or representative democracy....
  • e-government


There are numerous such efforts now in government especially in the English speaking world:
  • Federation of Canadian Municipalities
    Federation of Canadian Municipalities

    The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is a civic advocacy group representing many Canadian municipalities. It is an organization with no formal power but significant ability to influence debate and policy, as it is main national lobby group of mayors, councillors and other elected municipal officials....
     FCM InfraGuide
  • U.S. government Government Open Code Collaborative
    Government Open Code Collaborative

    The U.S. government Government Open Code Collaborative or Government Open Code Collaborative Repository was an initiative for best practice exchange among government agencies in the United States employing free software, open source, share alike and other methods of solving software-related problems in an open collaborative way....
  • UK local democracy project
    UK local democracy project

    The UK government local e-democracy national project is a best practice exchange among municipal governments. Arising out of a "national strategy for local e-government, the 22 National Projects offer councils proven, cost effective, standard products, services and implementation roadmaps with which to build effective e-services tailored to...
     which calls this a


An emerging trend looms that many international organizations like to use 'best practice" methodology to promote the good systems, procedures of one country among its members.

At the same time, careful evaluation is needed before adopting any so-called best practice. One person's best practice is not necessarily the best for another person, company, or country. Chasing the wrong best practice can have a negative impact, so the context and background for the best practice claim need to be understood in advance.

Best practices domains


Domains where Best Practices have been applied include:
  • Incremental and iterative development
  • Quality assurance
    Quality Assurance

    Quality assurance, or QA for short, refers to planned and systematic production processes that provide confidence in a product's suitability for its intended purpose....
  • Performance engineering
    Performance Engineering

    Within systems engineering, performance engineering encompasses the set of roles, skills, activities, practices, tools, and deliverables applied at every phase of the Systems Development Lifecycle which ensures that a solution will be designed, implemented, and operationally supported to meet the non-functional requirements defined for the so...
  • Risk management
    Risk management

    Risk management is activity directed towards the assessing, mitigating and monitoring of risks. In some cases the acceptable risk may be near zero....
  • Change process
  • Release execution
  • Milestones
  • Release control
  • Defect tracking
    Defect tracking

    In engineering, defect tracking is the process of finding defects in a product , and making new versions of the product that fix the defects. Defect tracking is important in software engineering as complex software systems typically have tens or hundreds or thousands of defects: managing, evaluating and prioritizing these defects is a difficu...
  • Use case
    Use case

    A use case in software engineering and systems engineering is a description of a system?s behaviour as it responds to a request that originates from outside of that system....
  • Requirements management
    Requirements management

    Requirements management is the process of eliciting, documenting, analyzing, prioritizing and agreeing on requirements and then controlling change and communicating to relevant stakeholders....
  • Automated testing process
  • Nursing
    Nursing

    Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the detail-oriented care of individuals, family, and community in attaining, maintaining, and recovering optimal health and functioning....
  • Evidence-based medicine
    Evidence-based medicine

    Evidence-based medicine aims to apply evidence gained from the scientific method to certain parts of medical practice. It seeks to assess the quality of evidence relevant to the risks and benefits of therapy ....
  • Physical planning and land use management
  • Water pollution control, watershed protection and restoration
    Best management practice for water pollution

    Best Management Practices is a term used in the United States to describe a type of water pollution control. Historically the term has referred to auxiliary pollution controls in the fields of industrial wastewater treatment control and sewage treatment control, while in stormwater management and wetland management, BMPs may refer to a pri...
  • Local governance
  • Home care
    Home care

    Home care, , is health care or supportive care provided in the patient home by healthcare professionals or by family and friends . Often, the term home care is used to distinguish non-medical care or custodial care, which is care that is provided by persons who are not nurses, doctors, or other licensed medical personnel,...


Best practices are used in technology development, such as new software, but also in construction, transportation, business management,sustainable development, and various aspects of project management
Project management

Project management is the List of academic disciplines of planning, organizing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives....
. Best practices are also used in healthcare to deliver high quality care that promotes best outcomes.

Best practices are used within any business type including, but not limited to: sales
Sales

A sale is the pinnacle activity involved in selling products or services in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....
, manufacturing
Manufacturing

Manufacturing is the use of machine, tool and labor to make things for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to Industry production, in which raw material are transformed into finished good on a large scale....
, teaching, programming software, road construction, health care
Health care

File:Ear surgery on a patient.jpgFile:Monoclonal antibodies3.jpgHealth care, or healthcare, refers to the treatment and management of illness, and the preservation of health through services offered by the Medicine, pharmaceutical, Dentistry, clinical laboratory sciences , nursing, and allied health professions....
, insurance
Insurance

Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to Hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a guaranteed small loss to prevent a large, possibly devastating los...
, and accounting.

Documenting and charting these procedures and practices is a complicated and time-consuming process often skipped by companies, even though they may practice the proper processes consistently.

Some consulting firms specialize in the area of Best Practice. Often "best practice" consulting firms offer pre-made 'templates' to standardize business process documentation. A key strategic talent is required to provide good "best practice" consulting to organisations: the ability to balance the uniqueness of an organisation with practices it has in common with other organisations.

In many cases the cost of making modifications to a system or process which comes standard in a template or with a delivered computer application forces an organisation into using "best practice". Often it is to the benefit of the organisation. Sometimes a "best practice" will hurt an organisation. Good "best practice" consulting firms can assist organisations in making decisions appropriate for the organisation.

Good operating practice


Good operating practice is a strategic management
Strategic management

Strategic management is the art, science and craft of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its long-term objectives....
 term
Technical terminology

Technical terminology is the specialized vocabulary of a field, the nomenclature. These terms have specific definitions within the field, which is not necessarily the same as their meaning in common use....
. More specific uses of the term include good agricultural practices
Good Agricultural Practices

The term Good Agricultural Practices can refer to any collection of specific methods, which when applied to agriculture, produce results that are in harmony with the values of the proponents of those practices....
, good manufacturing practice
Good Manufacturing Practice

Good Manufacturing Practice or GMP is a term that is recognized worldwide for the control and management of manufacturing and quality control testing of foods, pharmaceutical products, and medical devices....
, good laboratory practice
Good Laboratory Practice

Good laboratory practice generally refers to a system of management controls for laboratory and research organisations to ensure the consistency and Experimental reliability of results as outlined in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Principles of GLP and national regulations....
, good clinical practice
Good clinical practice

Good Clinical Practice is an international quality standard that is provided by International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use , an international body that defines standards, which governments can transpose into regulations for clinical trials involving human subjects....
 and good distribution practice
Good distribution practice

Good Distribution Practice or GDP_ deals with the guidelines for the proper Distribution of medicinal products for human use. GDP is a quality warranty system, which includes requirements for purchase, receiving, storage and export of drugs, intended for human consumption....
.

Because of the use of best-practice as a buzzword, some people are asking if a better term could be found. This could be something such as “better practices”, or “current thinking”.

The thinking is along these lines. The term “best practices” has implications of finality, obedience, authority, and universality. The term ‘best practices’ implies that some source has the final answer to a matter in dispute or disarray. The matter is closed, decided, set and resolved. The term seems to to seek better ways, which may even lead to tweaking the suggested practice to make it even better. It suggests that all of us together can come up with something better than any one of us can arrive at individually, and places authority in the community. The term may imply that the better practice is not universal, but depends on the specific situation.

See also

  • Benchmarking
    Benchmarking

    Benchmarking is the process of comparing the cost, cycle time, productivity, or quality of a specific process or method to another that is widely considered to be an industry standard or best practice....
  • Best coding practices
    Best Coding Practices

    Best coding practices for software development can be broken into many levels based on the coding language, the platform, the target environment and so forth....
  • Best practice exchange
  • Best available technology
    Best Available Technology

    Best available technology is a term applied with regulations on limiting pollutant discharges with regard to the abatement strategy. Similar terms are best available techniques , best practicable means or best practicable environmental option....
  • Business rule
    Business rule

    Business rule is a statement that defines or constrains some aspect of the business. It is intended to assert business structure or to control or influence the behavior of the business....
  • GxP
    GxP

    GxP is a general term for Good Practice quality guidelines and regulations. These guidelines are used in many fields, including the pharmacology and food industries....
  • Standard of Good Practice
    Standard of Good Practice

    The Standard of Good Practice is a detailed documentation of identified good practices in information security. First released in 1996, the Standard is published and revised every two or three years by the Information Security Forum , an international association of organizations in financial services, manufacturing, consumer products,...
  • Strategic management
    Strategic management

    Strategic management is the art, science and craft of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its long-term objectives....
  • Project management
    Project management

    Project management is the List of academic disciplines of planning, organizing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives....