The cause for of these delays and inefficient practices can be squarely placed in the political/financial bucket.
Spot on. It is the environment that we are operating in now days and it's a pain in the neck for controllers, pilots, engineers......everyone who is operational.
The teaching of "lean operations" at university, the health and safety rules, the noise sensitive folk who vote, self regulation, businesses operating as a series of 'silos', these things (and I'm sure many of you could add more) combine to create an environment that can be very frustrating to work in, especially if you remember other ways of operating.
I just make sure my end of the bargain is met and try to remember that most other operational folk are also operating with weak management and no leadership. Next time you taxi up to the gate and have to hold short because their is no guidance, instead of getting wound up, feel empathy for the bloke who is trying to do more with less and hold up your end of the bargain by letting ATC know. Next time there is nobody to drive the aerobridge, don't get wound up, feel empathy for the person who is running between flights due to the latest round of 'lean operations initiatives', and hold up your end of the bargain by explaining things to the pax.
And don't forget to put on enough fuel to be able to operate under little stress when the contractor who was engaged by the airports third party contractor to to oversee the 'improved ' maintenance schedule for some important piece of infrastructure goes on annual leave over Christmas
