Module 4.6: Capstone — Full R&D Capital Audit
The culmination of all 4 tracks. Conduct a complete R&D Capital Audit and produce a board-ready technology assessment document.
🏆 Capstone Project
This is the final module of the entire curriculum. After completing all 24 modules across 4 tracks, you have the complete toolkit to conduct R&D Capital Audits professionally.
Lesson 1: Capstone Project Overview
This is where everything comes together. You will conduct a complete R&D Capital Audit of your own organization (or a case study) using every framework from Tracks 1-4. The output: a board-ready technology assessment document.
A comprehensive document covering: Engineering Health (DORA, APER), Technical Debt Profile (PDI, Innovation Tax), AI Economics (COGS, feature profitability), and R&D Capital Position.
You will use every tool from the curriculum: PDI Calculator, APER Calculator, AUEB Calculator, EV-SE Calculator, and the Audit Interview tool.
Estimated completion time: 2-3 weeks for a thorough audit, including data collection, analysis, and document creation.
Set up your capstone project: choose your target organization (your own or a case study), define scope (which teams/systems), and create your project timeline.
Lesson 2: Data Collection & Analysis
The audit begins with data. You need engineering metrics (DORA, velocity, incidents), financial data (engineering budget, infrastructure costs), and organizational data (team structure, tenure, hiring).
Pull from source control (deploy frequency, lead time), incident management (MTTR, change failure rate), and project tracking (velocity, cycle time). Calculate APER using the calculator.
Map engineering costs: salaries (by level), infrastructure, tools, contractors. Calculate Innovation Tax (% time on maintenance vs. innovation). Run PDI assessment.
Map team structure, key-person dependencies, tenure Distribution, and hiring velocity. Use the Audit Interview tool for qualitative assessment.
Complete data collection: run PDI calculator, APER calculator, collect DORA metrics, and conduct at least one Audit Interview. Document all inputs.
Lesson 3: Board-Ready Document & Presentation
The final deliverable is a board-ready technology assessment. This document uses financial language, benchmarks against industry standards, and provides actionable recommendations with ROI projections.
One page: current engineering health (scorecard), key risks (top 3), opportunities (top 3), and recommended investment (next 12 months with expected ROI).
Section for each domain: Productivity (DORA, APER), Debt (PDI, Innovation Tax, TID), AI (COGS, feature profitability), and Organization (team health, key-person risk).
Phased remediation plan: Quick wins (30 days, ROI: 2-3x), Medium term (90 days, ROI: 3-5x), Strategic (12 months, ROI: 5-10x). Each with budget estimate and success metrics.
Compile your findings into the board-ready format. Share with a peer for review. Then schedule time with leadership to present your first R&D Capital Audit.
🎓 Congratulations!
You've completed all 24 modules across 4 tracks. You now have the complete Product Economics toolkit — from metrics to AI economics to capital management to applied practice.