A client’s team spent a full week adding a CSV export to their admin panel. Two engineers, clear requirements, maybe a day of actual work. The rest of the time went to understanding existing code well enough to change it safely. That’s what I call codebase drag: when the codebase makes every task take longer than it should. It doesn’t show up in any dashboard or sprint report.
Retrospectives are great for finding and sharing a consensus on these kinds of issues. The team can weigh their options. Known limitations are much better than unknown ones. And often, some bandaids and workarounds are possible to diminish negative effects, at least to a degree.
I’ve definitely had things we had to wait for, or are still waiting for. At least we don’t usually get outright rejections.