You are absolutely correct. Over the course of a few phone calls and some simple diagrams, my team managed to shrink what looked like 18 months of effort for 1

You are absolutely correct. Over the course of a few phone calls and some simple diagrams, my team managed to shrink what looked like 18 months of effort for 10 people, down to 2 simple, 3 week projects for 3 people. It wasn't wizardry...it was communication.