Record usage and effort
The work assignment is to measure licence and usage effort against review and engineering value. Define purpose, owner and permitted operating boundary before the first test.
The domain review baseline covers plan, usage, correction time, test coverage and delivered change. Assumptions and missing information remain visible in the result.
Measure costs against the workflow
- Select a comparable engineering task with the intended change and acceptance criteria.
- Document current plan assumptions and record usage during the task.
- Record corrections, review time and relevant test coverage through acceptance.
- Assess total effort against the change actually delivered and disclose unresolved assumptions.
Separate assumptions from measured results
Evidence links an accepted change to its plan assumption, observed usage, correction and review time and relevant tests. A comparison uses a substantively comparable task.
Avoid: using generated lines of code as a value metric. Generated lines or unreviewed changes must not be counted as delivered engineering value in the cost decision.
Decision matrix
| Decision point | Proceed when | Stop when |
|---|---|---|
| Cost assumptions | Documented: plan, usage, correction time, test coverage and delivered change. | Scope, data or accountability remains unresolved. |
| Measurement baseline | Evidence links an accepted change to its plan assumption, observed usage, correction and review time and relevant tests. A comparison uses a substantively comparable task. | There is only an unevaluated demo without acceptance evidence. |
| Budget decision | Owner, approval, fallback and next review date are defined. | Avoid: using generated lines of code as a value metric. Generated lines or unreviewed changes must not be counted as delivered engineering value in the cost decision. |
Keep it verifiable
Primary sources
- Anthropic: Manage Claude Code costs effectivelySource checked:
- FinOps Foundation: Unit economicsSource checked:
