August 06, 2024
Software capitalization has never been easy. Finance leaders need to know how much time engineers are spending on new features. But when engineering teams shifted to Agile methodology — where they’re constantly iterating and pivoting between projects — it made accurate time tracking nearly impossible.
This challenge is compounded by the fact that finance and engineering teams often struggle to “speak the same language.” Engineering leaders don’t understand why finance is asking for specific data, and finance struggles to collect data from the engineering department with the level of detail they need. That confusion turns an already complex reporting task into a frustrating, time-consuming struggle for everyone involved.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Forward-thinking businesses use Jellyfish to streamline capitalization and enable proactive communication between finance and engineering teams. Our new eBook brings together industry insights and best practices, showing how engineering and finance leaders can work together to save time and sanity.
The recommendations — backed by the experience of Jellyfish customers like Optimizely and Priceline — include:
- Ensure Everyone Understands the ‘Why’: Take a moment to have finance explain why it’s important to report on software capitalization, setting a precedent for better collaboration and communication between both teams.
- Agree on Details at the Beginning: To avoid misunderstandings down the line (or, even worse, risk finding that teams haven’t tracked work at all), finance should meet with engineering leaders early to align on the inputs they need for precise capitalization.
- Clearly Define Roles and Responsibilities: By taking extra care to ensure good change management throughout both teams, companies can avoid having to make corrections or chase down answers after a deadline has passed.
- Keep Up Regular Communication: In addition to strategy meetings at the beginning of the process, teams can hold regular “data hygiene” meetings to highlight surprises in the data. These meetings allow both sides to ask “stupid questions” and break down cross-departmental language barriers.
When companies prioritize proactive communications and use a tool like Jellyfish to automate tedious processes, they do more than just free up time for finance and engineering leaders. They build a foundation for better collaboration and more strategic approaches to R&D tax credits, Section 174 capitalization, and DevFinOps.
For the full guide to simplifying software capitalization in your organization, download the eBook here.
