Best Practices

Eat lots of veggies & fruits,
exercise regularly,
value your sleep.

Add an index for
each database column
you SELECT-WHERE by.

Unit-test your code.

Don’t reinvent the wheel.

Literally, the best!

A best practice is a method or technique
that has been generally accepted as
superior to any alternatives […​]
because it has become
a standard way of doing things […​].

Wikipedia, emphasis mine

It’s an industry standard.

Agreed on by experts.

Good

A best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to any alternatives because it produces results that are superior to those achieved by other means […​].

Wikipedia, emphasis mine

Vagueness stems from the term "best"
which is subjective.

Wikipedia - Best Practices, emphasis mine

Good advice comes
with a rationale
so you can tell when
it becomes bad advice.

Raymond Chen

The allure and seduction of best-practice thinking
poisons genuine dialogue about both what we know
and the limitations of what we know.

Michael Quinn Patton

Problems:

Better terms:

Good default…​

Be wary of best practices,
but look for good defaults.

Don’t NIH!

Know your limits
and focus energy
on your core competency.