If you can do "creative software development" and get paid for it, count your blessings. And better yet, give a very big "Thank you!" to your manager.
The reality of this trade, regardless of you doing in-house work or a product for the market, is that everything is required for yesterday. There is an "economy of pressure" where every stakeholder pushes everyone else as much as they can in the expectation that they will be pushed as well. If you do not get to experience this, it means someone in your chain of command is very good at pushing others, and that some other part of the overall system is shouldering most of that pressure all by themselves.
So if I understand you correctly you're saying that "creative software development" is inherently incompatible with the hierarchical realities of the corporation?
If so, I think you're probably right.
"The reality of this trade [..] is that everything is required for yesterday"
But it just isn't. This is an artificially created pressure for selfish reasons, and should not just be accepted in passing.
The reality of this trade, regardless of you doing in-house work or a product for the market, is that everything is required for yesterday. There is an "economy of pressure" where every stakeholder pushes everyone else as much as they can in the expectation that they will be pushed as well. If you do not get to experience this, it means someone in your chain of command is very good at pushing others, and that some other part of the overall system is shouldering most of that pressure all by themselves.