Evaluate ROI of Engineering Teams

Use Case. Share it with the roles that have interest in that.

Features like Cycle Time, Resource Allocation, Project Costs, and Resource Planning lay the groundwork for building a performance-to-cost narrative. With refinement, these tools can help organisations better understand where engineering effort is going and what value it's producing.


1. Start with Cycle Time as a Proxy for Efficiency

➡️ Where: Cycle Time

Cycle Time remains one of the most reliable indicators of delivery efficiency.

➡️What it reflects:

How quickly engineers move from starting a task to delivering value.

Whether internal processes and collaboration enable speed without sacrificing quality.

❗️

A consistently high cycle time across teams could indicate waste, blockers, or underutilised resources—all of which impact ROI.


2. Use Resource Planning for Cost Distribution

➡️ Where: Resource Planning

Resource Planning provides a starting point to associate engineering hours or headcount with specific initiatives.

➡️Potential insights:

  • How engineering effort is split across features, support, refactoring, or unplanned work.
  • Whether high-cost projects are progressing as expected or getting delayed by maintenance and interruptions.

3. Review Project Costs for Financial Attribution

➡️ Where: Project Costs

Although limited in its current form, this section aims to provide visibility into the cost per project or ticket.

➡️What to look for:

  • Which projects consume the most resources.
  • Whether low-priority or low-impact work is using high-value engineering time.
  • Opportunities to reallocate budget or rescope investments.

4. Build the Narrative for Stakeholders

ROI isn't just about raw data—it’s about presenting a clear story of effort vs. impact.

➡️Use these tools to answer:

  • Where are our most expensive engineering efforts going?
  • Are we shipping high-value features quickly and predictably?
  • Which teams or projects consistently deliver more with fewer resources?

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These are the kinds of insights executives care about—use the metrics as a foundation, but tailor the messaging.


Key Takeaways

  • Cycle Time offers a measurable indicator of engineering throughput and efficiency.
  • Resource Planning and Project Costs help approximate the financial footprint of engineering activity.
  • Frame data in terms of outcomes: speed, cost, and alignment with business goals.