Enabler 1: Defined & Measurable Success Criteria

We begin our deep dive into the 10 Enablers of Success with the foundational step of Enabler 1: Defined & Measurable Success Criteria. If a secure coding program is a journey, the first and most critical step is knowing exactly where you are going. That is the essence of the first enabler.

Linking Success Criteria to Business Outcomes

Building a successful secure coding program requires the existence of clear objectives tightly linked to business outcomes. Enabler 1 answers the core questions: "What, in very specific and measurable terms, is the problem or pain point we are trying to solve with our secure coding program?” 

Perhaps your organization is looking to meet compliance requirements, or avoid security breaches and cyberattacks. Or maybe you are looking to start left as an organization, reducing costs and time on rework by training developers to code securely from the start.

Regardless of your motivations, your organization’s current state, or even the security training platform you choose, the long-term success of your program is highly dependent on having clearly defined goals tied to business objectives in order to gain buy-in and ensure lasting success..

Consider key stakeholders of your program when determining Success Criteria. Knowing your executive sponsors and their business objectives will help drive wider adoption across departments.

‍Making Success Tangible and Measurable

These objectives must, by their very nature, be spejcific to your organization. That said, review these typical business objectives and consider how they might inspire additional ideas for you:

Risk Reduction: Mitigate developer risk and reduce vulnerabilities introduced by coding flaws. This includes risk identification and reducing the application attack surface.

Programs often target metrics like Vulnerability Density or Vulnerability Injection Rate reduction and avoidance.

Operational Velocity: Maximize product delivery velocity, reducing developer frustration and attrition, and decreasing the amount of time spent on rework. Secure code training acts as a significant incentive for developers by helping them avoid time-consuming rework of buggy code identified later in the software development lifecycle.

Programs often target a reduction in developers' Mean Time to Remediate (MTTR) vulnerabilities.

Regulatory Compliance: Achieve external compliance, such as adhering to standards like PCI-DSS (which mandates training for all developers working on payment systems).

Talent and Trust: Raise engagement and awareness of Security & Vulnerabilities within the developer organization, while maintaining and building customer trust. For some businesses, security-enabled developers help establish market differentiation.

Programs often establish minimum skill requirements for developers or even create specialized Security Champion programs.

‍Documenting Success in a Joint Success Plan

‍Once you have defined your success criteria, the next step is documenting them within a Joint Success Plan. This plan is a shared blueprint cross-functionally, with any key stakeholders of your program, including external support such as your training platform CSM. 

The Success Plan contains:

1. Value Driver(s): These include the high-level business goals related to improving code security and answering "The Why" for your program.
2. Current State: This establishes the "Where are we now?" (e.g., current secure coding skills or existing training programs).
3. Future (Desired) State: Next you document  "Where do we want to be?" and establish how the secure coding skills gap will be closed.
4. KPIs / Measures: These are the metrics that show success and demonstrate that the gap between the Current and Future States is closing as the program rolls out.

We recommend starting with 1 or 2 specific metrics and expanding later if necessary. These KPIs/Measures must adhere to the S.M.A.R.T. principle (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). They should be easy to track and not open to loose interpretation. Accountability on all sides is required to put the plan into action, with a regular, agreed cadence to review the value and ROI with leadership.

By defining and measuring these criteria explicitly, your secure coding program moves from a simple cost center to a verifiable driver of crucial business outcomes—a necessary first step toward achieving program maturity.

Next, we will dive into Enabler 2: Senior Leadership Sponsorship to discuss the key role that leadership plays in the successful rollout of a secure coding program.

Have additional questions?  Customers can contact the account team or support@securecodewarrior.com. Prospective customers can speak with a member of our sales team by contacting us here.