Simon has a fantastic post up at the moment, all about embracing best practice for web development, rather than just continuing to evangelize about standards in isolation. I think this is great, both that he’s trying to get us all to move on the “other pieces of the puzzle” and that we are in a position to do now though. Let’s face it, most people we are going to reach for now have been reached … all the rest will rock up when they suddenly realise (3 years late, as corporations do) that the tech has moved on and they need to catch up.
The rest of the spectrum is ripe for development though — and the best way to really get people on board. The real progress with web standards was made when we could show them the benefits — engage on an emotional as well as practical level. When you’re looking at the total website and engaging them on how to make the whole damn thing fantastic, then people are going to get excited … and if we present the whole package, then they are less likely to make web standards conspicous by omission.
I’ve been piloting a similar approach at work recently as well, looking at how to present training in terms of work processes and helping people do their jobs better, rather than isolated training on a particular system or intervention. So far it’s gone down a treat and people are now living the intended vision of the systems that were previously the bane of their lives.
As some famous dude said, most real breakthroughs are to be founds in the interfaces and borders of our sciences, rather than in our core, safe working areas. [Who said this? Answers on the back of a postcard please…]
Comments (3) Permalink
June 11th, 2004 at 6:21 PM
I really hate the phrase “best practice”, for two reasons. Firstly, because it’s not really “best” in any global sense, just the best that we’ve come up with so far. (I actually think there’s a danger that people will become complacent if they think they’re already using the best practices.) Secondly, because there’s no single approach that is “best” in software engineering. We know of lots of different methods of software development, we know that some are globally better than others, and we know that some are better than others for solving certain kinds of problems or managing certain kinds of projects. Anyone who uncritically thinks that they’re using the best practices may well be wrong given the contingent factors operating in their project.
What would be better is if people spoke about “improving methods” or “embracing better practices”.
(Don’t even get me started on people who sell “solutions”!)
Other than that small point, I entirely agree with you. And the standard of software engineering practices out there is shockingly low…
June 11th, 2004 at 6:22 PM
Hey, your HTML stripper got rid of my “end rant” pseudotag!
July 1st, 2004 at 10:30 PM
Rich, I loved your rant on the phrase “best practice” and have included it in a nasty email to people at my office. Thanks!