As a CTO, you have a lot to think about. Product roadmap, team management, technical decisions, hiring, fundraising. Cloud costs are just one more thing on a long list.
But cloud costs matter. They're a significant part of your burn rate. They can surprise you. They can derail budgets.
You don't need to become a FinOps expert. You just need to know enough to catch problems early and make informed decisions.
Here's a simple daily checklist. It takes 30 seconds. It tells you everything you need to know.
The Checklist
Every morning, check:
- Status: Green, amber, or red?
- Forecast: Where are we heading this month?
- Anomalies: Did anything unusual happen yesterday?
- Drivers: What's driving costs?
That's it. Four questions. 30 seconds.
Status
Status is the simplest signal. It's green (on track), amber (attention needed), or red (action required).
Green means spending is normal. No action needed. Move on.
Amber means spending is above normal or approaching a threshold. Investigate when you have time.
Red means spending is significantly above normal or over budget. Investigate now.
This is the most important signal. If status is green, you're done. If it's amber or red, continue to the next questions.
Forecast
Forecast tells you where you're heading. "Based on current pace, you'll spend $12,000 this month."
Compare forecast to budget. If forecast is close to budget, you're fine. If forecast exceeds budget, you're at risk.
Forecast updates daily. As the month progresses, forecasts get more accurate. On day 1, a forecast is a guess. On day 25, it's nearly certain.
Use forecast to plan. If you're on pace to exceed budget, you have time to adjust. If you're on pace to stay within budget, you can relax.
Anomalies
Anomalies are unexpected changes. "Yesterday's spend was 40% above normal" or "EC2 costs spiked 60%."
Anomalies need investigation. They might be:
- Expected: A feature launch, a traffic spike, a one-time event
- Unexpected: A bug, a misconfiguration, a security incident
If an anomaly is expected, no action needed. If it's unexpected, investigate.
Most anomalies are expected. You launched a feature. Traffic increased. Usage grew. These are normal. But some anomalies are problems. Bugs cause retries. Misconfigurations cause waste. Security incidents cause abuse.
Investigate unexpected anomalies. Ignore expected ones.
Drivers
Drivers tell you what's driving costs. "Top services: EC2 (40%), S3 (25%), RDS (20%)."
Drivers help you understand costs. If EC2 is your biggest cost, that's where to focus optimization efforts. If S3 costs spike, that's where to investigate.
Drivers change over time. A new feature might make a new service your top driver. A bug might spike a specific service's costs.
Use drivers to prioritize. Focus on the biggest drivers first. They have the biggest impact.
When to Dig Deeper
Most days, the checklist is enough. Status is green, forecast is on track, no anomalies, drivers are normal. You're done.
But sometimes you need to dig deeper:
- Status is red: Investigate why
- Forecast exceeds budget: Understand what's driving the increase
- Anomaly is unexpected: Find the root cause
- Driver changed: Understand why
This is when dashboards matter. Use dashboards for investigation, not daily monitoring. Check dashboards when signals tell you to, not all the time.
The 30-Second Rule
The checklist should take 30 seconds. If it takes longer, it's too complex.
A good daily signal gives you:
- Status at a glance
- Forecast in one number
- Anomalies in one sentence
- Drivers in a short list
If you need more, use dashboards. But for daily monitoring, 30 seconds is enough.
The Bottom Line
As a CTO, you don't need to become a FinOps expert. You just need to know enough to catch problems early and make informed decisions.
The daily checklist gives you that. Four questions. 30 seconds. Everything you need to know.
Most days, status is green and you're done. Some days, status is amber or red and you investigate. That's it.
Don't overthink it. Don't over-optimize it. Just check the checklist every morning. It's enough.
This is what StackSpend's daily reports are designed for. They give you status, forecast, anomalies, and drivers in 30 seconds. Then you decide whether to investigate or move on.
Most teams don't need more than this. They need awareness, not optimization. They need signals, not dashboards. They need 30 seconds, not 30 minutes.
Keep it simple. Check the checklist. Make decisions. Move on.