Best practice asserts that there is a technique, method, process, activity, incentive or reward that is more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. The idea is that with proper processes, checks, and testing, a desired outcome can be delivered with fewer problems and unforeseen complications. Best practices can also be defined as the most efficient (least amount of effort) and effective (best results) way of accomplishing a task, based on repeatable procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people.

Despite the need to improve on processes as times change and things evolve, best-practice is considered by some as a business buzzword used to describe the process of developing and following a standard way of doing things that multiple organizations can use for management, policy, and especially software systems.

As the term has become more popular, some organizations have begun using the term "best practices" to refer to what are in fact merely 'rules', causing a linguistic drift in which a new term such as "good ideas" is needed to refer to what would previously have been called "best practices."

Exchange

Best practices in a particular industry or other professional field can be exchanged, just like any instructional capital, by any means, though Internet-related information is most commonly exchanged this way:

• source code
• e-democracy
• e-government

There are numerous such efforts now in government especially in the English speaking world:

• Federation of Canadian Municipalities FCM InfraGuide
• U.S. government Government Open Code Collaborative
• UK local democracy project which calls this a knowledge pool

An emerging trend looms that many international organizations like to use 'best practice" methodology to promote the good systems, procedures of one country among its members.

At the same time, careful evaluation is needed before adopting any so-called best practice. One person's best practice is not necessarily the best for another person, company, or country. Chasing the wrong best practice can have a negative impact, so the context and background for the best practice claim need to be understood in advance. 1

Best practices domains

Domains where Best Practices have been applied include:

• Teaching/Education
• Incremental and iterative development
• Quality assurance
• Performance engineering
• Risk management
• Change process
• Change Management
• Release execution
• Milestones
• Release control
• Defect tracking
• Use case
• Requirements management
• Automated testing process
• Nursing
• Evidence-based medicine
• Physical planning and land use management
• Water pollution control, watershed protection and restoration
• Local governance
• Home care