Boeing has had issues for a while. I work in commercial aviation certification and all the senior engineers I work with are ex-boeing guys who took the early retirement plan some years ago when it was offered. According to them anyone who knew anything left and the competition from Airbus has forced them to attempt to speed up the certification process. The FAA gets final approval over new airplane designs but more of the engineering review and approval comes from a private ODA, which Boeing has their own. You have a company despite for sales who can "approve" their own designs. There is definitely corporate pressure forcing approvals to go faster.