I've been in a small company (< 50 employers) with this exact culture. But instead of it being a small dashboard function, pretty much everything took minimum 3

I've been in a small company (< 50 employers) with this exact culture. But instead of it being a small dashboard function, pretty much everything took minimum 3-6 months. How did they survive being so inefficient? Huge gov. contracts, where everything takes time. I mean, perfect place if you just enjoy a steady paycheck, while working on side-projects and personal stuff - but even that gets boring, real quick.