Seven pitfalls to avoid on the hunt for best practices

A recent US Defense Science Board study recommended the identification and implementation of best practices as a critical need for successful acquisition programs. Practices in this sense go beyond the development-related guidance of the popular Capability Maturity Models, including approaches organizations use to manage others creating software for them under contract. The study identified several traditional project-management practices such as configuration management and risk management, as well as newer practices such as executable architectures and limiting development time.