There are two main issues with Skyrim on the PS3:
1. The PS3 is "weird" and doesn't port easily compared to other platforms. That's the reason why the PC and 360 versions are so much more alike in terms of how they behave, performance, bugs, etc. This is for hardware reasons, the PS3 is a very odd hardware platform and is very different (and more difficult) to work with than the others. I'm happy to say that this has been solved with the PS4, which if you're into consoles is a great machine and MUCH easier for developers to work with. (Internally the PS4, Xbox One, and an x64 PC are very similar. Cross platform games are going to benefit tremendously from that.)
2. Both the PS3 and the 360 have 512MB of RAM. Both split it into video and system memory. The PS3 has a hard split, but the 360 lets you borrow video memory if you need more system memory. Skyrim needs it, and the fact that it can't get to it on the PS3 causes major issues. That's the reason why DLC was delayed for so long on PS3 - they were flat out running out of memory.
In addition, the PS3 hardware is actually pretty weak in main processing power, and uses several secondary units for certain tasks to get more performance (that's part of the Cell design). If you can use those properly, the system flies. If you can't, it chokes. Those units can only access small amounts of RAM at a time, and they're ill-suited to a game like Skyrim with a massive amount of persistent world state. The 360 has less raw CPU power, but it's CPUs are symmetrical (they're all equal) and thus Skyrim can distribute work more easily.
Believe me, Bethesda didn't sit around ignoring PS3 issues. They put a ton of money into trying to fix it, and Sony itself was involved at one point. The way the game was designed simply pushed the PS3 in a way it wasn't designed to excel at, and there were consequences. There will not be a repeat of that when they release a next-gen game because the next-gen systems are similar and developer friendly.
But yes, if your general point is that Stardock should take breaks to maintain focus and code quality, I agree totally.
Crunch time in game development sucks for everyone. I'd rather wait longer for the game so that the team can see their families once in a while.