[rhizome]

Formal methods come from a need for form, repeatability. There is nothing in software development that comes close to the process and considerations that go into choosing to build with M30 concrete, or use #5 rebar for that matter.

[Taek]

Sure there is! The most obvious example to me would be a server-side database for storing user credentials. It's a very common problem, it's well understood by the experts in the industry, and also most everyone makes the wrong choices anyway.

There are plenty of places inside of software that are pure-innovation and can't use a formal process to design and implement, but there are also plenty of places where a corporation just wants a website that does customer loyalty, and you often don't need any innovation at all.