A great deal of lip service is given to best practices. Who could object to it? When we go to conferences we are often challenged to take home a set number of ideas and implement them. Often it is a complete waste of time.
Best practices are by definition something already being done by competitors. That does not bode well for having a competitive advantage. A practitioner of Cowboy Safety does not do something just because someone else does it. Why do something the best when it may not be needed?
Often too a best practice from one location will not be adapted properly to meet the need of another location or a best practice will in fact not be adopted at a new location.
There are many legacy practices that can be eliminated. Most of them can be found in the overhead functions of a business. Rather than try to analyze your needs without any information let's look at something that Henry Ford did. I'll use the words best practices where appropriate.
At one point when bids were requested for engine blocks Ford personally wrote the packaging specifications for the engine block crates. Ford's purchasing people said that the crates were not based on best practices. The casting firms said that no one would need that much of a crate. It did not meet best practices. Ford insisted even though the cost was higher than the best practices approach. A contract was signed.
Ford then wrote the procedures for opening the cases. Again he was in violation of best practices for opening crates. Ford insisted.
Then Ford directed how the crate sections would be the floor boards for the Model T.
While his furniture works might be seeking an award for best practices in making floor board Ford closed the furniture works.
Best practices is actually the status quo.
David Sneed
Best practices are by definition something already being done by competitors. That does not bode well for having a competitive advantage. A practitioner of Cowboy Safety does not do something just because someone else does it. Why do something the best when it may not be needed?
Often too a best practice from one location will not be adapted properly to meet the need of another location or a best practice will in fact not be adopted at a new location.
There are many legacy practices that can be eliminated. Most of them can be found in the overhead functions of a business. Rather than try to analyze your needs without any information let's look at something that Henry Ford did. I'll use the words best practices where appropriate.
At one point when bids were requested for engine blocks Ford personally wrote the packaging specifications for the engine block crates. Ford's purchasing people said that the crates were not based on best practices. The casting firms said that no one would need that much of a crate. It did not meet best practices. Ford insisted even though the cost was higher than the best practices approach. A contract was signed.
Ford then wrote the procedures for opening the cases. Again he was in violation of best practices for opening crates. Ford insisted.
Then Ford directed how the crate sections would be the floor boards for the Model T.
While his furniture works might be seeking an award for best practices in making floor board Ford closed the furniture works.
Best practices is actually the status quo.
David Sneed
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