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This article investigates how rules function. It draws on observations made between 1993 and 2000 in a workshop of the Paris Metro where a new pay rule had been introduced. It is shown, first, that, since rules are in themselves incomplete, a single rule should never be considered in isolation but rather as part of a set of rules. Each rule needs to be interpreted in the light not only of the information contained in other rules but also of custom and practice and context. Part 1 then examines how individuals in the workshop follow work rules. Observation of operatives at work shows that they translate these necessarily abstract rules into concrete reference points, interpretation of which gradually crystallizes and gives rise to repetitive working practices, that is the establishment of routines. These routines emerge as one of the ways - but by no means the only one - in which rules are followed. Part 2 seeks to shed light on the relationship between this notion of routine, grounded in observations, and that adopted in evolutionary theory. This leads, in Part 3, to the outline of a concept of the relationships between rules and routines, that is of the role of routines in managing the incompleteness of rules. Routines emerge as a means of stabilizing the interpretation of rules.
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