Best Practice LO30060

From: HJRobles@aol.com
Date: 04/04/03


Replying to LO30055 --

I, too, have problems with the concept of best practices -- and I've been
involved in many efforts to identify and disseminate them. What makes me
very cautious about best practices is that there is an assumption that
they are like recipes -- just mix the ingredients together -- and voila!
you have a solution to your own problem. Unfortunately, like recipes,
there are lots of variables: quality of ingredients, equipment, and the
biggest variable of all -- the cook(s). Often what makes a best practice
in one organization cannot be replicated in another . The results are
always different and often don't meet expectations. Best practices just
aren't easily transplanted. That isn't to say that they aren't useful,
but realistically, organizations will tend to take from a best practice
the kernel of the idea and then they will immediately and inevitably shape
it to fit their own circumstances -- and then it's something new and
untested and not yet a best practice in that venue!

-- 

HJRobles@aol.com

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