[makeitdouble]

> the pressure will be off to do anything to improve build efficiency, and everyone will add more to the build till it's 20 minutes again.

To rephrase this in a way that was not your intention, "developper laziness would only increase if the company paid for the beefier CI".

And I think that's often the crux of the discussion, at the base of it there's a perceived neglect and lack of effort, and it's only if all possible efforts have obviously been done that money should be attributed.

Thαt's where it feels less like a cut and dry ROI calculation, and there's a moral judgement aspect that is baked in but not often properly surfaced.