According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a "best practice" is "a procedure that has been shown by research and experience to produce optimal results and that is established or proposed as a standard suitable for widespread adoption."

The important words in this definition are "experience" and "optimal results." When developers build solutions following corporate best practices, they'll follow proven designs established through experience for general program structure, user interface, and operation. If their organization's standard best practices are already good, then following them will help the developers deliver the quality results their organizations demand.

But what about this thing called "optimal results?" How do standardized best practices provide them? The real answer lies in how they are implemented.