Best practices are a template, they are general rules, meant to be coupled with a human brain so they can be applied appropriately...or not applied depending on the use case. The problem is not in the best practices; the problem is their literal interpretation. Just because people do not really understand what they are for does not mean that they are an non-valuable tool that should be dispensed.

One might better say "Death to Cargo Cult Management!" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult_science) than to "Best Practices".