Time is our only truly non renewable asset, and it is absolutely finite. Therefore it makes sense to use it as wisely as possible.
In a management context, in measuring a process, time has two dimensions.
- Clock time. Start to finish, how long does a task take to go from one end of the process to another.
- Event time. How long does it take to go through the activities necessary to complete the process.
It might take a bank 3 days to process your loan application, clock time, but the event time may only be the few minutes it takes to check your credit history, current income and automatically calculate your ability to repay the loan. Event time.
In most cases, customers are only aware of the clock time, and when it extends beyond what they think is reasonable, they become cranky with you.
The difference between the two is the opportunity for improvement, and to ensure customers only get cranky with your competitors.
