Software methodologies (RUP)
I couldn't agree more. RUP is a great way to document a software design. The electrical engineer in me likes to think of it as a kind of software schematic. I've heard of folks having successful round-trip engineering (i.e automated RUPdiagram-to-code-to-mod-to-RUPdiagram process flow), but in my experience the supporting infrastructure and additional communications overhead just isn't worth it—even on large 30+ developer projects. It's better to invest those funds into hiring grade A managers and developers to keep the team size and the development infrastructure small.
In other words, less has never been more than in software development.