Use Patterns, not Best Practices

I was just watching a PuppetLabsInc video on YouTube which had Michael Stankhe presenting "Getting Started with Puppet". Its a great presentation and really thought provoking, but the bit I like most is what he said about patterns.

"I use [the term] patterns, I dont use the words best practice because it implies I know all possible options and all your variables. I dont! Patterns are generally good ideas - sometimes they wont work for you, you may be in a situation where one of these patterns fails miserably."