I've been reading and enjoying quite a lot of James' blog posts, and a recent theme that he has been bringing up was the fact that companies are using process as a substitute for competence.

It has been quite a sore point of internal discussions for me. Adding this to the idea that documentation catered to the lowest common denominator means that each and every process that were researched for years, which require experience and skills to follow, could suddenly be applied to any Tom, Dick or Harry that they can pick off the street.

That is a dream state, based on flawed foundations. Why would a competent team want to hire any one that they can get off the street? That's not a realistic approach at all.

To divert resources to aim for something that is inherently wrong makes the decision and the process even worse. A cynical point of view is that the business consultants are just creating justification for them to do more of these kind of projects, and to increase their revenue stream.