VS2017 introduced the concept (e.g., ".NET desktop development"). But the offline layout downloaded everything in that workload. You couldn't easily pick and choose without rebuilding the layout.
Microsoft heard the screaming. Their answer wasn't just an ISO file. It was a . The Anatomy of the ISO The official vs_professional.exe (or Enterprise/Community) was only 1.2 MB. That wasn't the installer; that was the bootstrapper .
A developer asks for the "Game Development with C++" workload. You download the layout. Two weeks later, they ask for "Mobile development with .NET" (Xamarin). You realize that workload requires different Android SDKs and NDKs that aren't in your original 40GB layout.