Not every response has to be in opposition! I was clarifying more what I think is effective: divide and conquer, constrained communication (a requirement of divide and conquer), minimized process products, iterative development, etc, and that these general ideas are essentially all that is required, not a formal process. I was also, likely badly, trying to point out that if these basics are kept in mind the formal process artifacts and steps really aren't needed. Small, focused, iterative teams are so in sync that forcing them to speak a foreign language (a formalized process) is probably a hindrance.

As I write, I clarify my own ideas. If I'm being honest I'm probably writing this more for me to better understand what really has worked than as a response. I hope it generates a good response and makes me think and refine more and I hope it makes others do the same, but really, selfishly!, I am doing this for me I guess to help me focus on these things in the future.

So, with that I think this may be where I am really trying to go with this. Maybe we are missing the point with these things. Maybe we should hammer in these math concepts, NP growth, gradient descent (iterative development) and how to measure when teams and problems are breaking because of the math so that we can understand and address the root issue better. I have ever heard anyone explain that NP math concepts and gradient descent dominate the reasons why teams fail or succeed, but the evidence is everywhere. Push the why and how to spot it and less the prescriptive how? Maybe a more effective set of things the industry could be pushing are simpler checks: how big are your teams? How many problems are they thinking about at a time? How many levels of teams do you have compared to the size of the organization? Can each member of a team articulate that team's goal? Can they articulate what their team is currently, this minute, working on? Can the team above them articulate how the goals of the teams below them fit together to solve the problem they were given? Are teams talking when they shouldn't? (We so focus on teams not talking that we often miss that talking too much is kind of a bigger deal). That kind of thing. More management and organization and less process and product oriented.