Focus and Speed Metrics Masterclass

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Date:

Wednesday 15th April 2026

Time:

3pm UK (10am ET)

Duration:

45 minutes (including live Q&A)

Overview

In this webinar, Matt will lead a deep-dive masterclass into two of Plandek’s four productivity pillars: Focus and Speed. Building on the 2026 Engineering Benchmarks launched in March, this session moves from the “what” to the “how” — exploring what these metrics actually measure, why they matter, and how engineering leaders can use them to drive meaningful improvement.

We’ll touch on what separates top-quartile teams from the rest when it comes to where they direct their effort and how quickly they deliver, and discuss how AI tooling is beginning to reshape performance in both areas.

Key Points We're Going to Cover

What the Focus pillar is really measuring, and why Value Delivery % is so hard to move
- The relationship between Focus and code quality
A walkthrough of the Speed metrics and what each one reveals
- Lead Time to Value: the “idea to production” view and why it’s often 5x longer than Cycle Time
- Cycle Time: what healthy flow looks like and where time is typically lost
- Time to Merge PRs: why this often-overlooked metric accounts for 20–30% of cycle time
- Throughput Quotient and PR Efficiency Quotient: what these newer metrics add to the picture
- Merge Frequency per Author: what high-frequency merging signals about team health
The performance gap between bottom and top quartile teams on Focus and Speed
- Top-quartile teams deliver software 3x faster and merge PRs in half the time
- How AI tools are disproportionately benefiting lower-performing teams on Lead Time to Value
- How AI tools are helping lower-performing teams reclaim roadmap capacity
Common anti-patterns and how to avoid them
- Cherry-picking easy wins that flatter metrics without improving underlying performance
- Optimising Speed at the expense of quality
- Misreading Cycle Time improvements as Lead Time improvements

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Key Takeaways

A clear understanding of what the Focus and Speed metrics actually measure, and how to interpret them accurately
Confidence in how to use these metrics with engineering teams without creating perverse incentives or gaming behaviours
A view of where top-quartile teams are winning — and the specific behaviours and practices that drive that performance

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Who This Webinar Is For

Directors and VPs of Engineering seeking a deeper understanding of their team’s performance relative to industry benchmarks
Heads of Engineering and Delivery Leaders responsible for identifying and removing bottlenecks in the delivery process
PMO and Transformation Leads driving data-led improvement programmes across engineering functions

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Organisations

Companies that have begun measuring Lead Time or Cycle Time but are unsure how to act on the data
Organisations where unplanned work and reactive firefighting is consuming a significant proportion of engineering capacity
Scaling teams that need to improve delivery speed without simply adding headcount

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Speakers:

Agile Success Manager

Matt Simpson

Matt has over six years of experience in consulting and software delivery. Since joining Plandek, he has focused on helping organisations — from scale-ups to global enterprises — improve how they plan, track, and deliver software effectively. Drawing on a background in delivery leadership and quality engineering, Matt helps clients make better data-driven decisions that enable teams to ship value faster without compromising on quality. His work centres on empowering engineering leaders and teams to measure and optimise their delivery metrics, equipping them with the right tools and practices to solve real-world problems smarter — and to build high-performing engineering cultures that last.