Sure, I have no idea about the specific company cited; but I do think that most of the effort spent by most of software developers in most of the companies is w

Sure, I have no idea about the specific company cited; but I do think that most of the effort spent by most of software developers in most of the companies is wasted on details that are not manifest to people who don't have direct experience with the job on a daily basis (either as working developers or by people managing them). The farther up and out you go, the easier is it to underappreciated the rabbit hole that software development is, and thus to underestimate the costs. And to, once realizing that, still be baffled at how it is possible that "just doing this little thing was really supposed to cost that much?". Many just don't invest the "right" amount of resources, judging that there is something wrong with all that, that we're either subject to an overinflated salary bubble or something else.