I think there's another reason as well: I wasn't involved with XSLT at the
time, but my impression has always been that the original WG worked in a
rather different way from most standards groups. I may be simplifying, but
it operated, as far as I can tell, with one person (James Clark) as the
acknowledged chief designer, and the rest of the group acting primarily in a
supporting role. That's a good model for achieving high quality and high
productivity, but the organizational structures we use don't encourage it.