Removing Unnecessary Delays

Patrick Collison has this list of examples of people accomplishing ambitious things together. For me, it's a reminder that the time required for building something varies greatly depending on the people involved and the culture of work.

For example:

iPod. Tony Fadell was hired to create the iPod in late January 2001. Steve Jobs greenlit the project in March 2001. They hired a contract manufacturer in April 2001, announced the product in October 2001, and shipped the first production iPod to customers in November 2001, around 290 days after getting started. Source: Tony Fadell.

How can we reduce unnecessary delays in the projects we are involved?