The truth is that there is a lot of evidence from the field that having good developers and zero formal process is actually fairly workable, and often produces

The truth is that there is a lot of evidence from the field that having good developers and zero formal process is actually fairly workable, and often produces results. For certain kind of organisations yes. Take a look at the research Alistair Cockburn did and his various Crystal [colourname] methodologies. http://alistair.cockburn.us/Crystal+methodologies http://alistair.cockburn.us/Crystal+methodologies It's typically not the best system, but it's a strong antidote to the poisonous ideas of SCRUM, which holds that constant micromanaging at every level is strictly necessary otherwise puppies will die. If you've got a team claiming their doing Scrum where you see constant micromanaging - that team is not doing Scrum. At the very core of Scrum is the idea that the team organise their own work (within the very few practices that Scrum enforces). (Obniggle: Scrum is not an acronym you don't need to SHOUT :-)