--- title: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Measuring Engineering ROI description: Engineering ROI is difficult to measure because the connection between engineering work and revenue is indirect and delayed. CTOs can demonstrate value through... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-hitchhiker-s-guide-to-measuring-engineering-roi-hvipcbkzu twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Measuring Engineering ROI | daily.dev og:description: Engineering ROI is difficult to measure because the connection between engineering work and revenue is indirect and delayed. CTOs can demonstrate value through... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-hitchhiker-s-guide-to-measuring-engineering-roi-hvipcbkzu og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/hvIPcbkZU.png og:image:alt: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Measuring Engineering ROI og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Measuring Engineering ROI **[Tech Lead Digest](https://daily.dev/sources/techleaddigest)** · 28 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Engineering ROI is difficult to measure because the connection between engineering work and revenue is indirect and delayed. CTOs can demonstrate value through multiple approaches: comparing against benchmarks, committing to specific business outcomes and delivering them, or calculating ROI using formulas. The article proposes two complementary metrics: Engineering Operating Efficiency Ratio (revenue from existing customers divided by KTLO costs) and Engineering Growth Efficiency Ratio (revenue from new customers divided by amortized CapEx). Success requires shifting from output-focused feature delivery to outcome-based accountability, establishing leading indicators, and aligning engineering initiatives with business goals. The key is not just measuring ROI but actively generating it through strategic alignment. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [DevOps ROI: Why it Matters & How to Measure](https://daily.dev/posts/devops-roi-why-it-matters-how-to-measure-4c3tyrlfl) · Spacelift · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [How To Measure the ROI of Developer Tools](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-measure-the-roi-of-developer-tools-xnkov1ooc) · CNCF · 6 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#leadership](https://daily.dev/tags/leadership) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-hitchhiker-s-guide-to-measuring-engineering-roi-hvipcbkzu) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Measuring Engineering ROI","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-hitchhiker-s-guide-to-measuring-engineering-roi-hvipcbkzu","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-hitchhiker-s-guide-to-measuring-engineering-roi-hvipcbkzu"},"datePublished":"2026-01-25T19:14:22.232Z","dateModified":"2026-01-25T19:14:45.346Z","description":"Engineering ROI is difficult to measure because the connection between engineering work and revenue is indirect and delayed. 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