The “Process Folks” need to walk fine lines of balance in the world of software application development, IMHO…

While process is good, it is not an end-all. In factory work, Taylorism-based processes can be very valuable. In knowledge work, they can be very stifling and counter-productive. For so long, folks have tried to break up software development into factory-like chunks of processes. If you have that kind of software work, then automate it with a tool, not a human . Otherwise, much of what we do — be it creative or inventive or engineering — needs a much looser set of processes. The smallest amount to ensure “Done Means Done” — and to the right degree of “-illity”. Which is no small feat to express just how good a design needs to be, just how much flexibility is needed, how much maintainability, just what is quality code, balancing ROI of time spent getting code out and time in the users hands for getting feedback sooner, etc.

Striking the balance is part of the engineering mindset; but this requires good inputs from many sources, including stakeholders, marketing, users, architects, business folks, infrastructure, tech support, QA, etc.