How to prove to the board that engineering is underfunded

The multiplier is 4.60x. Cost per feature is $33,120. The annual figure is $933,120. Six modules at an interdependence of 0.5, plus 24 coordination hours on 40 hours of vacuum effort, produce that multiplier. Across 36 features, the annual figure divided by the blended rate is the hour load on the payroll.

Why it happens

The board already has the headcount line. The multiplier is already on that payroll. You Can’t Steer When You Only See the Destination is how to put that number where the board can see it. The multiplier has two additions on top of the vacuum work. The module term is interdependence times connascence degree: a weight of 0.5 on 6 modules. The coordination term is 24 coordination hours divided by 40 hours of vacuum effort. The annual figure is the per-feature gap on 36 features. Divide that annual figure by the blended rate and the result is hours already on the payroll.

The module term is what moves when the module count rises. Each added module adds the interdependence weight of 0.5. A diff that lists more than six modules raises the degree, the module term grows, and the multiplier rises with it. The coordination term does not move with that count. It stays in the ratio of 24 hours to 40 hours until one of those hour counts changes. Six modules are enough to put the module term on a feature whose vacuum effort is 40 hours. The annual figure, turned back into hours by the rate, is where that product shows up.

On a codebase the reader sees a 40-hour feature whose diff names six modules. The hours of review and alignment around it are the 24 coordination hours. Over 36 features the load above the vacuum work is the annual figure. Divided by the same rate the company already pays, that load is a count of hours. Those hours are already on the payroll. They are the multiplier, expressed as time, on work the team had already planned.

The calculator shows the dollars. The hour count is that division. A board that funds engineering from the headcount line can be shown the same line in two units. The dollars are the annual figure. The hours are the annual figure divided by the rate. Both come from connascence degree 6, interdependence 0.5, 24 coordination hours, 40 hours of vacuum effort, and 36 features a year. None of those inputs is a headcount. Headcount can rise while the diff still names six modules and the meetings still take 24 hours, and the multiplier stays where the worked example put it.

A reader preparing the page for their own company uses those inputs as the checklist. Count the modules in a representative feature. This page uses 6. Add the coordination hours around that feature. This page uses 24. Keep the vacuum effort at the hours the feature would take as work. This page uses 40. The rate is the loaded rate already on the payroll. The feature count is the year’s shipping plan, 36. The worked example is what that checklist returns, in dollars and in hours.

Each added module adds 0.5 into the module term, so a wider change surface raises the multiplier that is already on the payroll. The 24 coordination hours raise it through the coordination term, and that term does not move when the module count moves. The rate and the 36 features decide how large the annual figure is once the multiplier is set. The division by the rate turns that figure into hours. The underfunding claim on this page is that hour load: time the company is already paying for above the vacuum work on each feature.

A worked example

Connascence degree is 6. Interdependence factor is 0.5. Coordination overhead is 24 hours. Vacuum effort is 40 hours. Blended rate is $180. Features per year is 36.

The multiplier is 1 + (0.5 * 6) + (24 / 40) = 4.60. Vacuum cost is 40 hours times $180, which is $7,200. Feature cost is $7,200 times 4.60, which is $33,120. The annual figure is ($33,120 minus $7,200) times 36, which is $933,120. Divide that annual figure by the $180 rate and the load is 5,184 hours. The calculator shows the dollars. The hour count is that division.

How to measure yours

Open the Engineering Cost Calculator and set Blended Rate to 180 and Features Per Year to 36. Keep the other inputs at the values in the worked example. Those two are the inputs to set first. The rate turns hours into the dollars the board already sees, and the feature count turns one feature into the year. Connascence Degree stays at 6. Interdependence stays at 0.5. Coordination Overhead stays at 24 hours. Vacuum Effort stays at 40 hours.

Move Blended Rate and the vacuum cost, the feature cost, and the annual figure move, because every dollar on this page is hours times the rate. The hour count moves with the annual figure, because it is that figure divided by the rate. Move Features Per Year and the annual figure moves, because it is the per-feature gap times the feature count, and the hour count moves with it. The multiplier stays still while those two inputs change and the other inputs stay on the worked example.

The multiplier itself moves when connascence degree moves. Degree is the count in the module term. Each added module adds the interdependence weight of 0.5, so the multiplier grows with the module count, and the annual figure and the hour count grow with the multiplier. The coordination term does not move with the degree. Coordination overhead moves the same results through the ratio of 24 hours to 40 hours. The inputs to set first are still the rate and the feature count. They are how this page puts the load in the units the board already uses.

Cost is the vacuum work times the multiplier, so the work is one divided by the multiplier of what you pay. Above 2.00x, more than half of every feature’s cost is overhead. These inputs sit at 4.60x. Six modules at an interdependence of 0.5, plus 24 coordination hours on 40 hours of vacuum effort, are what push the multiplier past 2.00x. The rate and the 36 features turn that multiplier into the annual figure and into hours on the payroll. The line to watch is that hour load, already inside the headcount the board approved.