Against Best Practices

I think the rejection is too strong in this article. The idea of, “best practices,” comes from an established Body of Knowledge. There is one published for software development called the SoftWare Engineering Body of Knowledge or SWEBOK; published by the IEEE.

The author seems to be arguing for nuance: that these “laws,” require context and shouldn’t be applied blindly. I agree.

However they shouldn’t be rejected out of hand either and people recommending them aren’t idiots.

Update: one problem with “best practices,” that I think the article might have unwittingly implied is that most software developers aren’t aware of SWEBOK and are repeating maxims and aphorisms they heard from others. Software development is often powered by folklore and hand waving.

To put it simply, best practices are, at best, context-dependent. Best practices for avionics software are not the same as best practices for a CRUD form on your mailing-list signup page.

And to be fair, the best practices for designing a bridge or a skyscraper are not the same ones for designing a doghouse.