Collective Fictions of Software Methodologies

Software methodologies are a collective fiction. Necessary, but a fiction nonetheless.  The author of this article is where I first saw this concept:

My 20-Year Experience of Software Development Methodologies

My experiences and conclusions have been similar.  A software team needs something to organize them, but exactly what is used does not matter that much.  Really, all you need is:

1. A system to organize the work
2. A system to communicate.

All the software methodologies provide these elements. The bottom line is that any methodology can work with good people and every methodology will fail with bad people.  

As one of the cartoons in that article alludes to: the goal of a methodology is predominantly about avoiding chaos.