Few business continuity (BC) tasks exceed the importance or visibility of determining the recovery time objective (RTO). Unfortunately, dysfunctional practices can creep into this process and cause "arbitrary" RTOs to be created. Three key examples of arbitrary RTOs include those which are "calculated," "open-ended," and "elongated." For an arbitrarily calculated RTO, a BC planner uses an application or software tool to compute it. Based on inputs (such as dependencies, relative criticality or risk, etc.), the tool determines that a particular RTO is required. These inputs are important considerations, but they do not entitle the planner to dictate an organization's RTO.…