Tom Collins at Knowledge Aforethought had some interesting thoughts about "best practices" two weeks ago. Here's the last paragraph of the article: Knowledge Aforethought: "Best-yet" practices - DO NOT RE-FREEZE
If we "re-froze" the prior experience into the organizational "best practices" would anyone even look for the newer, better solutions?
His comments are based on a familiar change management process that works thaw-change-freeze. Collins thinks the freeze is silly, and in this light I have to agree.
What happens to the idea of continuous improvement or POOGI when you freeze the thing you've just changed? It goes out the window, of course. Any business process can stand tweaking or even complete overhaul. Having an formal "freeze" also freezes out opportunities to get it even better.