Effectiveness or Best Practises - make your pick!

Michael W. McLaughlin summarizes Best Practises (via eLearningPost):

1. They rarely work
2. It's a follower's strategy
3. Change comes from within
4. They don't come with a manual

One of the Lotus egg heads once added: "Best Practices are yesterday's technology".
The MIT recommends to replace them with Signature Processes.

I would add my own little attribute list:

• they are an attempt to contain fear
• they stifle innovation
• they won't provide a safety net
• they can't replace skills