The question AI providers hope VPs of Engineering never ask
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AI coding tool adoption is growing rapidly, but most engineering leaders measure usage (tokens, seats, prompts) rather than outcomes (code that actually reaches production). This creates a structural misalignment: AI providers are incentivized by token consumption, not by whether generated code ships. Drawing a parallel to early cloud waste that spawned FinOps, the author argues that engineering leaders need commit-level attribution linking AI spend to production outcomes. The author's company, Waydev, has built a platform to track AI adoption, impact, and ROI across the full software development lifecycle.
Table of contents
The spend is real. The visibility is not.The incentive problem nobody talks aboutWe have seen this beforeThe measurement that mattersAdoption is not valueSort: