The Savage Pursuit of Best Practices

Many architects are pummeled by management (not leaders) with the idea that an organization should create initiatives that focus on the capture of best practices so others can benefit from them later. The mind-set that supports archiving these practices facilitates efficient problem solving, which leads over time to the way business should be conducted.

Of course, this goes against many agile approaches and is, in many ways, diametrically opposed to the agile manifesto of preferring interactions to comprehensive documentation. Solutions to business challenges are typically containerized by memorization of various "measures of goodness" (Booch) that also have embedded assumptions, nonpublic views of organizational strategy, and unwritten reward systems (e.g., what do I need to do to make my boss believe I am competent). The sad fact of many enterprises is that this mind-set breeds doing more of the same better, which only provides marginal returns that diminish over time.

For example, a frog is unable to detect gradual changes in temperature. A frog that is put into boiling water quickly has instincts that will tell it to jump out, but when it is put into room temperature water that is slowly brought to a boil (the vast majority of significant projects fall into this category), the frog will ultimately boil to death. The mantra of doing more of the same will result in locking in both desired and undesired behaviors that result in a death march. In other words, more of the same doesn't help. The status quo mind-set must be abolished.

This mind-set is further compromised by the notion that knowledge can be stored by using information technology. We are aware that databases and groupware applications can store information that is structured and unstructured, but in the end that amounts simply to storing bits of data. Neither solution today can store the rich schemas that people possess for making sense of those bits. One fundamental truth exists that is often ignored: the simple fact that information is context-sensitive. The same data will elicit different responses from different people. When someone invents the technology that can scan a person's mind and store it directly in a database, people will be able to experience the reality of another person. Since that isn't possible, it is important to focus on interaction.

Figure 12-2. Core competencies reference architecture.

This does not mean we are not for knowledge management or best practices. Rather, we think they are useful tools for creating a consensus-driven view of the business problem. However, it must be acknowledged up front that this information is static, rational, and without context, but our business problems are anything but static, border on the line of insane, and definitely have context. These tools do not truly help with what is important, which is the ability to renew existing knowledge and assist in the creation of new knowledge.

The best practice that is never spoken about is the one that allows a culture to be unlearned. What is "best" today may be "garbage" tomorrow.