Records - the dangers of treating it as a practice.

When something becomes a practice, it typically rests on an authority structure.

We do it like this, because x authority said that we do it like this - and what everyone else thinks doesn't really matter, this is our practice.

And we practice it.

Practices can be the most appropriate response to a situation, and they can be life changing.

Dentistry is something that people practice - and how they do dentistry is independent of the desires of their clientele or anyone else - other than whatever body certifies their practice, and manages their malpractice.

Accounting is a practice - and just like dentistry, accountants do what they do indepdent of the desires of their clientele, they do it the way their certifying body tells them to - and suffer the consequences when they don't.

The danger of a practice, is that it can exist without an effective feedback loop.

Dentistry and accounting have effective regulators - regulators who ensure that their practices change as new evidence about how to be effective comes to light, and who understand the function that the discipline performs, what its value is, and ensures that practice continues to deliver value to the groups that hire it.

Not all practice groups have effective regulators.

Which can become a problem, because practice isn't supposed to adapt based on local feedback, if it did, accountants would account for whatever their organisations wanted them to, however they wanted them to, and the entire accounting profession would lose its value overnight.

This is to say that practice isn't supposed to adapt to local feedback, it's supposed to be practiced.

Without effective regulators, practice groups have to adapt on their own - but they're just not designed to. So they stagnate, and their value disappears as the world changes, and practice keeps being practiced.

Records is right here, right now.

We're here because we exist in the presence of too many regulators who would "prefer to advise," and who don't realise that there are problems because they won't audit anyone.

So what's the antidote to this for all of us practitioners who are out there practicing?

There are lots of ways to do it - but the keys to me, are value and feedback.

We need to look at the skills we have, and work with our managers and executives to use them to deliver things that are valued.

How do we assess how our organisations value what we're offering?

We look for feedback in the only way that counts - through budget allocation.

Then we have to be self-critical about practice feedback by answering the simple question - did we deliver the value we promised we would? Ideally we answer it through some form of post implementation review, or benefits realisation process.

But we have to answer it - because the virtuous cycles of practice change and budget creation only become virtuous cycles if a practice leads to budget which leads to a project that is valued and that people want to do again.

The big question is always how to start.

I think it's with one question - does our organisation value the outcome that this practice produces?

And as we said, there's only one real measure of value - they'll budget for it.

If the answer is yes - keep doing it.

If the answer is no, it might be time to rethink the practice.