Why Your Engineering Org Has No Idea What Anything Costs (And How to Fix It)

📰 Dev.to · Alan West

Learn a practical framework to track effort allocation and make better decisions in engineering teams, solving the common problem of unknown project costs

intermediate Published 13 Apr 2026

Action Steps

Identify key cost drivers in your engineering projects
Implement a time-tracking system to monitor effort allocation
Categorize tasks into different cost centers
Establish a feedback loop to review and adjust cost estimates
Use data to inform decision-making and prioritize projects

Who Needs to Know This

Engineering teams and their leaders benefit from this framework to optimize resource allocation and make informed decisions

Key Insight

💡 Tracking effort allocation is crucial to understanding project costs and making informed decisions