Stopping the clock is a pernicious practice
There is a tradition among certain service providers to “stop the clock” when measuring process cycle time. They consider that any process activity under the responsibility of someone other than the service provider should not count against the agreed service level. There are two main cases: when the provider is waiting for customer feedback and when the provider is waiting for a third party supplier.
From the point of view of the customer, such practices are pernicious and demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between accountability and responsibility. We may readily agree that a third party might be responsible for any action that might have been escalated to it. But this does not relieve the service provider of its accountability to the customer for the results! And it hardly makes any difference if the service provider has managed to hornswoggle the customer into agreeing to such practices. [Read more…] about Stopping the clock vs. waiting time