Software Engineering has taken a turn for the worse since I left that field back in the mid 1980's. My last software job was on the team that developed a fault tolerant programmable controller for the emergency shut down, gas turbine, fire & gas system, and general mission critical controls domain.
Software Engineering Method and Theory is a group of thought leaders and supports reforming software engineering based on a solid theory, proven principles, and best practices. This is the domain I work in. The clients we work for "engineer" software intensive systems, most of which would be considered "mission critical."
Edwin Land has a good quote, applicable here:
Don't undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.
If there are projects that are not mainifestly important and nearly impossible, why bother with all the formality?