However, I still need to work at convincing people that it's not always as simple as updating one package as the update can have knock-on effects else where - which is why a "simple" update can end up being very time consuming and/or costly to implement.
"Mystical man month"
You need more that a hacker in a garage to build a system of software infrastructure.
But the Yocto Project does make it easier for him :)