I suspect the instants are based around shortening the time at the end not at the beginning, a small difference but would effect their view of the them and how they work.
That appears indeed to be the direction they are thinking!
Here is what one of the moderators said on the Facebook Page:
The supply and coin instants are based on your main hall storage, so they scale as you progress in the game.
If the time was shown in percentages, it would be unclear. This way you get what you see with these instants.
Also, they are not meant to be used alone. You can use a longer instant, and a few shorter ones to finish an upgrade or scouting, or whatever you would like. If there's 1 hour and 15 minutes left of something, you don't have to use 2 x 1 hour instants (that would waste 45 potential minutes), you can use a 1 hour, 2 x 7 minutes and a 1 minute instant. Those are there to fine tune the time boost.
The point that they are not getting is that one minute is the time it takes me to walk to the gent's room and wash my hands.
So if I need just 1 minute to finish something - I can just go make a pee and it will be done when I come back.
It is, IMO, an insult to give us 60 second boosts - and then get angry when we don't like them.
And I am not the only one who feels that way!
They are 'non-awards' - and an example of the inherent stinginess of the design team that I referred to in my Event Guides.