We’re skeptical of “best practices.” We also have some strongly held beliefs about what helps people work well together.

There’s plenty to learn from what has worked in other teams, organizations, and environments. The jump from “this has worked” to “this is how it should work” is where we get skeptical. Context changes how advice applies, and copying the practice doesn’t necessarily reproduce the conditions that made it successful.

At the same time, after years working in some of the largest, most complex companies and work environments across industries, there are principles and essentials we keep coming back to. We believe they create conditions for better outcomes and better experiences for the people working toward those outcomes.

Our slightly humorous (at least to us) angle is a little “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” We’ve spent years questioning best practices, and now we’re writing a book of our own.