best practices irl
Gartner describes best practices as a group of tasks that optimizes the efficiency (cost and risk) or effectiveness (service level) of the business discipline or process to which it contributes. It must be implementable, replicable, transferable and adaptable across industries.
In simple terms, best practices are guidelines meant to help teams and systems perform better, avoid common pitfalls, and deliver more consistently.
Now, I’m just a dev who enjoys building cool stuff. You might have a dozen PMI certifications, so I won’t pretend to be an Agile coach. Take this article with a grain of salt.
I’ve worked with all kinds of teams. The old-school, pre-pandemic teams where you could walk over to someone’s desk and debug together; teams where “Agile” was just a fancy word they saw on LinkedIn, but never really understood; teams where you had to literally stand up once a week and give updates to people you didn’t even know; but also settings that were dynamic but only did Agile because the company said so, and lastly teams that actually did Agile right, with collaboration, accountability, and just the right amount of ceremony.
In university, we were taught Agile through shiny case studies. It made sense on paper. But when you’re juggling real-world deadlines, client pressure, and shifting requirements, textbook Agile doesn’t always hold up.
Context Beats Convention
Every team is different. Every individual is wired differently. Some people care deeply about their work, others just want to clock out, and that’s fine. What matters is being adaptable and getting things done: with or without a checklist of best practices.
People often forget that the most important part of Agile is communication. No number of daily meetings, retros, or Jira tickets can make up for a lack of clear, and two-way communication. In my previous blog post, I talked about how Designers and Developers can better collaborate in a Software team.
Take the pyramids for example, centuries later we still don’t really know how they were built. It probably wasn’t aliens. It was most likely good planning, communication, and strong execution. Timeless best practices in action.
In addition, remote work changed everything. Time zones, cultural gaps, and asynchronous workflows reshaped how teams function. In this new reality, the basics matter more than ever; clear documentation, effective and async-friendly communication, and choosing the right tools for the job
Recommendations
Here’s a quick look at where best practices can help and where they might not.
| Practice | Works When | Fails When |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Standups | Small, colocated teams | Large, global, async teams |
| Strict Sprint Planning | Predictable, stable projects | Rapid prototyping or client-driven |
| Heavy Documentation | Regulated industries | Startups iterating fast |
| Agile by the book | Experienced, disciplined teams | New or disjointed teams |
Here are a few lightweight, modern tools that support good practices.
| Category | Recommended Tools | Why It Helps |
|---|---|---|
| Async Documentation | Notion, Confluence, Obsidian | Centralized, flexible knowledge sharing |
| Team Communication | Slack or Discord | Keeps async convos organized and searchable |
| Project Tracking | Linear, Plane, Height, Trello | Streamlined task management, better than Jira |
| Code Collaboration | GitHub or GitLab | Built-in tools for PRs, code reviews, CI/CD |
| Whiteboarding | Miro, Excalidraw, FigJam | Visual planning, mapping workflows |
| Time Zone Management | Spacetime, World Time Buddy, Google Calendar | Makes global collaboration sane |
Conclusion
There’s no universal formula for doing things right. Best practices are only valuable if they actually improve your team’s outcomes.
- Experiment and figure out what works for your context even if it means Frankensteining frameworks.
- Stay consistent, but flexible enough to evolve when things change.
If you’re going to implement Agile, do it properly or don’t bother at all. Misapplied practices can be worse than none.
Getting things done well will always matter more than just ticking boxes. That’s the one best practice that applies everywhere.
References
- Gartner. (n.d.). Best Practice. [online] Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/glossary/best-practice.