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What is a Best Practice?

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A best practice is a process or technique that is generally accepted to be the best known solution to a common business problem. In many cases, best practices allow an innovative new technique to spread across an industry. However, they are widely criticized for being a hallmark of business complacency. Common criticisms of best practices include:

1. Buzzword

Best practice is often used as a buzzword to defend an approach without explaining its value. Saying that an approach is a "best practice" is relatively meaningless and is overused as a decision making justification.

2. Standards Avoidance

A best practice is essentially a weak standard. Anyone can come up with a best practice but a standard implies a formal acceptance of an approach by a standards body. Standards have typically undergone greater scrutiny but are often more difficult to implement than a best practice. For example, standards may be associated with expensive and time consuming certification processes. Best practices are often used as a lightweight approach to loosely embrace a standard. This approach may be viewed in a negative light by those who advocate strict adherence to a particular standard.

3. Resistance To Change

Best practices represent past approaches that aren't necessarily optimal approaches. They are commonly used as an argument to resist change and innovation.

How To Use Best Practices

Best practices have value as a business reference as they represent the way that things are generally done across an industry. They can be used as a benchmark with which to compare new approaches.

Business Analysis

This is the complete list of articles we have written about business analysis.
Audience Analysis
Baseline
Behavioral Requirements
Benchmarks
Best In Class
Black Box
Bottleneck
Bottom-Up
Brand Analysis
Budget Planning
Business Analysis
Business Architecture
Business Attributes
Business Case
Business Conditions
Business Models
Business Needs
Business Needs Analysis
Business Plan
Business Requirements
Business Rules
Business Strategy
Business Swot
Business Theory
Capabilities
Capacity Planning
Choice Architecture
Competitive Intelligence
Context Of Use
Cost Benefit Analysis
Success Factors
Data Analysis
Data Dredging
Data Mining
Decision Analysis
Estimates
External SWOT
Feasibility Analysis
Fishbone Diagram
Forecasting
Gap Analysis
Ishikawa Diagrams
KPIs
Management Accounting
Market Research
Mece
Metrics
Needs Analysis
Net Present Value
Operations Analysis
Organizing Principle
Pain Points
Performance Analysis
Premortem
Problem Analysis
Productivity Analysis
Project Charter
Proof Of Concept
Qualitative Analysis
Quantification
Requirements
Requirements Gathering
Scenario Planning
Situation Analysis
Specifications
Statement Of Work
Statistical Analysis
Story Points
Strategic Drivers
SWOT Analysis
Technology Analysis
Terms Of Reference
Total Cost Of Ownership
Use Case
User Stories
Voice Of The Customer
What-if Analysis
Workflow Analysis
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Business Strategy

An extensive list of business strategies.

Strategy

A reasonably comprehensive guide to strategy.

Baseline vs Benchmark

The difference between a baseline and a benchmark.

Strategy vs Tactics

A definition of strategy vs tactics with two examples.

Competitive Advantage

A few sources of competitive advantage for businesses.

Macro Environment

A list of macro environment components.

Competitive Advantage vs Distinctive Capability

The difference between competitive advantage and distinctive capability.

Do Nothing Strategy

An overview of a common business strategy.

Restructuring

A definition of restructuring with examples.

Business Analysis

A list of business analysis techniques and deliverables.

Requirements

The common types and formats of requirements.

Business Analysis vs Business Architecture

The difference between business analysis and business architecture.

Process Gaps

A few examples of common process gaps.

Best In Class

A definition of best in class with examples.

Data Analysis

The common types of data analysis.

Technical Feasibility

Common types of technical feasibility.

Requirements Elicitation

The common types of requirements elicitation.

Requirements Management

A definition of requirements management with examples.

Specifications

The common types of specification.
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