I'm struggling with finding cloud cost management tools that my engineering team will actually engage with. We've tried a couple of platforms in the past year, and each time, it seems like I set them up, finance loves them, but the engineering team barely touches them after that. It's not that engineers don't care about costs; it's just that these tools appear to be designed for finance folks. The terminology feels alien, the interfaces seem outdated, and the insights are often too vague to act upon, like simply stating that Azure costs increased by 15% last month without guidance on what to do next.
We're currently spending around $70,000 a month on Azure—covering app services, SQL databases, storage, virtual machines, and an AKS cluster—and I know there's waste. Azure's built-in cost management tools show the numbers but don't provide actionable steps. Azure Advisor offers basic recommendations we have already implemented.
I'm looking for something that's genuinely useful for engineers, like tools that highlight oversized app services or misconfigured storage accounts, and ideally integrates with the tools we already use. Does such a mythical engineer-friendly cost management tool exist, or should I just resign myself to the idea that cost management won't be part of an engineer's role?
2 Answers
Honestly, if your engineers aren’t proactive about managing costs related to their own deployments, it might be a sign that you need to rethink your team dynamics. Cost management isn’t just for finance—it's a technical responsibility too. That said, you could use some practical suggestions like implementing tagging strategies to clarify who’s responsible for what costs, or using integrated tools like Azure Policy to enforce cost-saving measures directly.
It sounds like you might need to shift the perspective a bit. Instead of solely relying on tools, consider integrating budget responsibilities into your team's performance evaluations. If engineers know they're accountable for costs, they might pay more attention. Setting tighter budgets and holding teams accountable could help drive some ownership.
I find it amusing that this advice comes from a leadership position. The onus should definitely fall on engineers to justify costs—which means they need to understand their resources better.