Cycle Time: A Universal Metric?

Reducing the overall time to complete a task usually provides improved quality and efficiency.

There are very few things like fine wine that get better with age.  Minimizing the overall time that it takes to complete an activity is usually a sound business practice.  With less elapsed time, there are fewer opportunities for anomalies to occur or for the results of the activity to no longer be optimum or even relevant.  There are exceptions to completing this quickly.  Knowing when to use cycle time as a key metric and when not to is important.