A lot of this is about risk assessment. Business people and engineers don't agree on how to define and measure risk. Business people think Java is the low-risk

A lot of this is about risk assessment. Business people and engineers don't agree on how to define and measure risk. Business people think Java is the low-risk choice, because the risks are hidden. Engineers know that these over-ambitious, 20-person Java projects are actually a lot riskier. Putting 20 people on a 5-person project doesn't make it less risky, but more. Business types fundamentally don't get this. Business people are concerned with continuity, engineers are concerned with completion. Putting more people on a project reduces the risk of losing key people, and staffing is really the only tool at business peoples' disposal to protect (the perception) of continuity. Engineers consider the risk to be related to the project actually being complete: if that be functionally complete or shippablly complete, etc. Actually spending time working on the project efficiently is how engineers want to manage that risk.