Best practices exist because they are generally approved and recommended. In the Salesforce ecosystem, this usually means Salesforce introduced the best practice and the community agreed. Sometimes it’s the other way around; it’s community initiated and Salesforce rubber stamps it.
Does that mean you should always follow best practices?
The short answer is no.
As a Salesforce consultant, you need to be aware of best practices. You also need to know are context specific. And you also need to know that just because it’s a best practice, it doesn’t automatically mean you should apply it in all situations.
A best practice is like a commonly accepted rule. And like all rules, most of the time they should be followed, but sometimes they can be bent, and sometimes they should be broken. Knowing which path to follow separates a junior consultant from a senior one.
For example, using Person Accounts (PAs) is the best practice when working with a B2C organization. But PAs have their quirks and limitations. Case in point, Field Service doesn’t always play well with them.
(Interesting side note: The new Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud is moving away from Contacts to PAs. Perhaps this shift will improve overall support for PAs).
The takeaway
Best practices are a good starting point. But don’t stop there. Analyze your specific situation using the business requirements, technical requirements, and processes to determine whether they should actually be followed or not.