It's pretty inherent in those types of projects. How long do big aerospace projects take? (And then they may be canceled when some other bidder wins the deal.)
Big hardware development has probably accelerated some overall--the development of new chip architectures and "big iron" computer systems was at least multiple years when I was a product manager, but especially safety critical systems or things you get one shot at still take slow deliberate process.
SpaceX is currently set to revolutionize the entire space industry (again) with Starship. The abstract idea of Starship was only first presented at a conference in 2017. By 2020 they had developed and were doing individual component flight tests. They just had their first fully fueled test of the entire integrated system yesterday.
Assuming they keep at pace, there will imminently be a static fire and it will be headed to space this year. And to emphasize it's not some evolutionary thing but a complete rethinking of rocket design, unlike anything before, that stands to once again completely revolutionize the industry should it succeed.
Going from spitballing to revolutionizing space, in 6 years (2 of those years being during a highly disruptive pandemic), on a private budget? I'm inclined to say the problem is government, but I'm almost wondering if that isn't just a knee-jerk. It just seems that in modern time that many "businesses", government included, just don't really have the capacity to move quickly - even when it's 100% possible.
Heard that here (?) how a senator insisted a project on reusing the components of an old programme and then become the administrator of that project. Hence overall you can say we have 40 years idea for the new moon landing project. Great for retirement.
Big hardware development has probably accelerated some overall--the development of new chip architectures and "big iron" computer systems was at least multiple years when I was a product manager, but especially safety critical systems or things you get one shot at still take slow deliberate process.