Time criticality is one key component of Cost of Delay (CoD), which is the money or value that will be lost by delaying or not doing a job for a specific time period relative to other jobs. Time criticality reflects the urgency or sensitivity of a job to time, and how its value changes over time. For example, a job that has a fixed deadline, a seasonal demand, or a high risk of obsolescence has a high time criticality, and its CoD increases rapidly as time passes. A job that has a stable demand, a low risk of competition, or a long-term benefit has a low time criticality, and its CoD increases slowly or remains constant over time.

References:

WSJF: This article from the Scaled Agile Framework explains the concept and purpose of Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF), which is a prioritization model that uses CoD and job duration to sequence jobs for maximum economic benefit. It also describes the four components of CoD: user or business value, time criticality, risk reduction and/or opportunity enablement, and job size.

Cost of Delay - Scaled Agile Framework: This article from the Scaled Agile Framework defines CoD as the numerator in WSJF prioritization, and provides some examples of how to estimate CoD for different types of jobs.