Time is arguably one of the most precious and least quantified resources that organizations possess. It’s a uniquely intangible, yet indispensable, feature of any process or activity. Things occur over a span of time. It’s an indisputable characteristic of our universe and is so self-evident that we often overlook its significance. We fail to give proper consideration to the role time plays in the completion of projects and the achievement of goals. During the recent ISO /TC176 Plenary meeting in Panama, a representative from the Egyptian delegation gave a presentation on the various aspects of time that are applicable to quality-management systems. Key issues discussed included time-management tools, cultural perspectives, how we measure time, relationship to process improvements and emergency-response times. It became clear that we need to do a better job in defining the time constraints that influence various aspects of our organizations.

Considerations span the gamut of activities from multi-year projects to production-cycle times. They can range from the mundane (“Are the timers on the ovens accurate?”) to the critical (“How fast can we deliver blood to a hospital during a crisis?”)

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