Game or communication
You seem to be equating listening with action.
You seem to be equating inaction with not listening.
I believe Devs could be better at communicating ( see below).
But time spent communicating is not time spent on the game. Devs are paid to work on the game.
Imperfect Actions
Alchemy Lab as requested by players. The Devs took action as soon as they could fit it into the schedule. They made a mistake with Lab version 0.1, and are changing it. This will push back the whole schedule.
This is not the first time, or the last time, the Devs will make a mistake. Mistakes push back schedules.
I feel this is why Stronghold 21 was rushed out, to give players something to do. But not Stronghold 23, they wish to public beta Advanced Buildings before adding more.
Shards and trade
Both Shards, and trade, are on the schedule.
But.
Empires makes money off of summons.
Shards, and trade, will increase player retention, but decrease Return On Investment per player. Other ways to monetize shards, and trade, need to be scheduled first.
Edit:
Other ways including Revamping Challenge events, fixing Tourneys, and practice raids.
Links
(SGG "Ask Me Anything" AMA transcript - 13 March 2019)