> If this were software we'd be looking at a multi-year software project with a few hundred programmers delivered on-time, within the budget and working flawles

> If this were software we'd be looking at a multi-year software project with a few hundred programmers delivered on-time, within the budget and working flawlessly on the day of delivery. > I have yet to see such a project Then you haven't worked on safety critical systems or old school embedded/firmware projects. The alternative is 30 developers solving the same problem with software that has a bunch of critical bugs that get fixed in the first few months of release and a few hundred more minor flaws that get fixed gradually over time. When it comes down to it the alternative is almost always preferred by the market and for good reason.