13 problems carry two clocks out of sync

Some problems are made entirely of timing. Crop breeding takes fifteen years while the climate shifts every decade; medical devices last twenty years while their software support lasts five; aid grants run three years while the water systems they fund must run twenty. Each process works exactly as designed — the barrier is the gap between their speeds, and it reopens with every cycle no matter how well anyone performs. Meeting one deadline doesn't solve it; the same gap comes around again.