Best practices stink

I have always been annoyed by the term "best practice." It gets thrown around a lot in consulting and enterprise settings, and it never really sat right with me. It wasn't until I heard a podcast with Martin Fowler that I understood why.

It's from this episode of the Book Overflow podcast. Can recommend the podcast episode, as well as the podcast as a whole. Some good interviews in there!

Fowler mentioned that he prefers the term "sensible default," and that just clicked for me. The idea behind "best practice" is that there's a universally correct way to do something which really sounds like a one-size-fits-all approach. But in the real world, every business is different, every department is different and every day is different. What works great for one team or one project could be completely wrong for another.

"Best practice" does not acknowledge this. "Sensible default," on the other hand, says that while there may be a good starting point, it’s not necessarily the only right way. It's an option you should evaluate, tweak, or even discard depending on your specific situation. So much more appropriate!