Editable cost forecasts for FinOps teams
- Overview
- Datadog wanted FinOps teams to run their whole budgeting workflow in Cloud Cost Management. They could set a budget and report on it, but they couldn't reforecast. Datadog's forecast came from historical spend alone, with no way to adjust it for launches, org changes or savings goals. As the sole designer on custom forecasts, I ran the research, scoped it with PM and engineering, and proposed the design to leadership.
- Impact
- TK: did it ship, or is it in progress?
- Role
- TK: Product Designer or Product Designer Intern
- Duration
- May – Aug 2025
- Team
- Design ManagerProduct Manager3 Software EngineersData Scientist
The problem
FinOps teams work in three steps: set a budget and forecast for the year, reforecast as the year goes on, and report to leadership. Datadog covered the first and last steps. The middle one was missing.
Datadog’s out-of-the-box forecast predicts spend from historical data. It can’t know what’s coming, and users couldn’t edit it, so planned changes never made it into their numbers.
Datadog doesn’t know our org changes, [future] launches, or savings goals, we do.
— FinOps team at a Datadog customer
Research
I interviewed FinOps teams at four companies to learn how the generated forecast fit into their budgeting. Two findings shaped the design:
- They need to customize. Teams adjust their forecasts for plans Datadog can’t see.
- They still want the generated forecast. It’s a good starting point and fills in whatever they don’t override.
So the design starts from the generated forecast and lets you edit any value in it.
The solution
Editing starts from the budget table, where FinOps teams already compare forecast, budget and actual spend for each budget line.
If we can make this work, this will be our budgeting, forecasting, visibility tool going forward.
— FinOps team at a Datadog customer
What I learned
- Companies forecast very differently. The design had to stay flexible enough for several kinds of FinOps user.
- A spreadsheet user expects a spreadsheet. The job was to make editing feel like sheets while still looking like the rest of Cloud Cost Management.
- New domains take homework. I got up to speed on FinOps through a lot of reading and videos.