Everything takes longer than ppl want to wait. But when building a house, ppl are more patient and tolerant about the time taken, because they can physically see the progress, the effort, the sweat. Software is intangible and invisible except maybe for beta-testers and developer liaisons. And the visual parts, like the nonfunctional GUI or web UI, are often taken as "most of the work is done", because that is what people see and interact with.
It's product management's job to bridge that gap. Break down and prioritize complex projects into smaller deliverables that keep the business folks happy.
It's better than houses, IMO - no one moves into the bedroom once it's finished while waiting for the kitchen.
I don’t really see this as universal truth with corporate customers stalling process for up to 2 years or end users being reluctant to change.
We were deploying new changes every 2 weeks and it was too fast. End users need training and communication, pushback was quite a thing.
We also just pushed back aggressive timeline we had for migration to new tech. Much faster interface with shorter paths - but users went all pitchforks and torches just because it was new.
But with AI fortunately we will get rid of those pesky users right?
Different situation. You already had a product that they were quite happy with, and that worked well for them. So they saw change as a problem, not a good thing. They weren't waiting for anything new, or anything to improve, they were happy on their couch and you made them move to redo the upholstery.
AI is emerging as a possible solution to this decades old problem.