11–17 of 17 posts
There are plenty of situations where mediocrity is a fine goal. For many projects, it's a step up. Perfect is the enemy of good.
This is based on an assumption that at given point in time there isn't an ideal solution (or an approximation which is nearly indistinguishable) for a given problem.
I would disagree and say that while "best practices" can be a buzz word for industry consensus, there are plenty of "best practices" which are genuine best solutions.
This can be for a number of reasons, such as learning inertia on the part of users. You might be able to invent a "better" user interface convention but if it's unfamiliar or confusing to the majority of users used to an "inferior" convention it's not necessarily a better practice to use the newer convention.
I found the article meaningless. He says best practices are what everyone is doing, therefore the embodiment of mediocrity. I find "best practices" to be a useful checklist, especially in an area new to me. If someone says it's a best practice, I take a look. Ultimately I may decide their advice is of a little value.
Moreover, it's just a non-sequitur to conclude from 'mediocre company X does Y' that 'doing Y makes a company mediocre'. What makes a company mediocre is in the things they cannot single out in clear statements of the form 'we should change practice Z, as it is not good.
I found the article meaningless. He says best practices are what everyone is doing, therefore the embodiment of mediocrity. I find "best practices" to be a useful checklist, especially in an area new to me. If someone says it's a best practice, I take a look. Ultimately I may decide their advice is of a little value.
The fourth commenter at the blog makes an excellent point: people call it 'best practices', but they are actually 'common practices'. The reason something is a common practice, is because it has been shown to work or, lacking measurements to proove that something works, because it makes sense and 'just works'. Moreover, it's just a non-sequitur to conclude from 'mediocre company X does Y' that 'doing Y makes a compan…