Best Practice Urban Legends - Not Quite the Best

Urban legends cover a broad range of topics and often have a feel of being correct, even when they are not.  This phenomenon is not restricted to saying "Beetle Juice" three times.  There are all sorts of urban legends that we run into, and they extend into the world of best practices.  These examples feel like they are the right thing to do, but may even be the opposite.

The Foolishness of Crowds

Many of the problems with best practices devolving into urban legends territory seem to be rooted in groupthink.  We do not always speak our minds, nor do we question enough.  When we are worried about looking foolish, silence is often the path to take.  However, this can cause all manner of issues when combined with communication challenges.  Therefore, regular sanity checks of our processes are critical to keeping them on track.

The Telephone Game

Communication is easy to confuse.  It speaks volumes that the old playground telephone game is also known as "Chinese whispers."  Chinese may be easier to understand than the confusion that often comes out of this little past time.  The essential point of the game is that every point of communication is also a potential point of failure.  This weakness can even impact our best practices.  The documentation and dissemination of those practices may not be perfect.  That can lead to all manner of confusion over time.  Thus, urban legends around our best practices may be the culmination of a series of minor miscommunications.

Back To Basics

The path to better best practices and avoiding urban legends is through regular reviews.  We do not need to question everything all the time.  However, we should question everything periodically.  If for no other reason than to ensure we are all agreed on what our best practices are.  Technology is changing our world every day.  It is time to ensure our best practices keep pace with all of the latest advances.