The reason development methodologies exist even in the face of common sense is the same reason management metrics have been around for ages: they aren't for the

The reason development methodologies exist even in the face of common sense is the same reason management metrics have been around for ages: they aren't for the people doing the work, they're for the managers to quantify the work their team does for the sake of their managers. Not every manager can understand every facet of the operation two levels down. Methodologies not only give them an understandable metric of what is going on, they also have something to point to when upper-upper management is considering a lower manager for a promotion or trying to figure out why things are taking too long or not working as expected. Development methodologies have a place, that's for sure, but structure for structure's sake - in my experience - tends to exist primarily for the benefit of the managers, rather than the engineers.