My impression reading the question is it's a low-tier outsourcing company. (Work is billed by the hour, only for approved tasks, code has to be auditing/approve

My impression reading the question is it's a low-tier outsourcing company. (Work is billed by the hour, only for approved tasks, code has to be auditing/approved by an external party). But e.g. considering "setup a packaging solution in days, when it wasn't done in a month" or "stuck for three weeks reviewing code which took two weeks to write" suggests either the star performer MUCH better than the others, or that he's more careless. "working without really understanding what you're doing" is a good technique in many cases, though, rather than a criticism as-such.