Self-Help Books
Self-help books are the generic processes of “living better” and they are just as applicable and effective to their subject area as the generic processes of software development are to software development. It isn’t that these books help no one. The books get sold so someone must be getting help. However, the books don’t work for everyone and they certainly don’t take account into every detail of every reader’s life. They are _general_ guides on how to improve your life and they don’t come with guarantees.
On the plus side, self-help books can be a good place to start. Most contain good generic advice that can be modified and edited to fit any one person’s situation. Perhaps people are actually doing this and that is why the books appear to be successful. In any case, if you don’t do the equivalent with software development processes, you are asking for trouble.