diff --git a/dev-support/docker/Dockerfile b/dev-support/docker/Dockerfile
index f0e250145e0..4d48c74457b 100644
--- a/dev-support/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/dev-support/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ RUN mkdir -p /usr/lib/jvm && \
 # TODO (nd): is this really true? investigate and file a ticket.
 ENV SPOTBUGS_HOME '/opt/spotbugs'
 ENV MAVEN_HOME '/opt/maven'
-ENV MAVEN_OPTS '-Xms4G -Xmx4G'
+ENV MAVEN_OPTS '-Xmx4G'
 
 CMD ["/bin/bash"]
 
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 5b8d910c05a..3630b6f3154 100755
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -1412,10 +1412,10 @@
     <!-- Fork count varies w/ CPU count. Setting is conservative. Up this
       value is you want to burn through tests faster (could make for more failures
       if more contention around resources). There is a matching MAVEN_ARG
-      in our yetus personality where we set the maven -T command to 0.5C too.
+      in our yetus personality where we set the maven -T command to 0.25C too.
     -->
-    <surefire.firstPartForkCount>0.5C</surefire.firstPartForkCount>
-    <surefire.secondPartForkCount>0.5C</surefire.secondPartForkCount>
+    <surefire.firstPartForkCount>0.25C</surefire.firstPartForkCount>
+    <surefire.secondPartForkCount>0.25C</surefire.secondPartForkCount>
     <surefire.firstPartGroups>org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.SmallTests</surefire.firstPartGroups>
     <surefire.secondPartGroups>org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MediumTests</surefire.secondPartGroups>
     <surefire.testFailureIgnore>false</surefire.testFailureIgnore>