Illusion of "We need some more processes. Then everything will be alright "

Lets look at why this doesnot work.

First Processes have to be people Centric. Any process implementation that ignores people or ignores people instincts is doomed to failure. Especially when the company (or departments) starts thinking if you have good processes you can replace developer X with developr Y without any impact on project. THAT NEVER WORKS.

Ususal one can define only 80% percent of process/policy. There are always some exceptional cases, which are not covered in the process documentation. The company has to be give enough leeway for the process implementers to take common sense decisions. Otherwise, for every exception company has to change the process and keep on documenting the exceptions. Soon it becomes a huge task and lot of time/money and energy is spent on bean counting rather Software Development.

From then onwards its a downward spiral. Good Developers and Managers leave, managers interested in joining committees and discussing things to death thrive, productivity drops and attrition increases, employee morale goes down. The tide cannot be changed by giving better salaries.

Hence People are most important and only People centric processes work.