I think the "big project" angle is that maintainability is of higher priority than for smaller project. So more minor things need to to be addressed than in sma

I think the "big project" angle is that maintainability is of higher priority than for smaller project. So more minor things need to to be addressed than in smaller projects. And that then either leads to being very nitpicky in reviews (which costs both sides cycles), or polishing patches pretty liberally (which costs the submitter experience, but reduces the time required for both sides).