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A CTO should be technical

blog.southparkcommons.com

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Re: A CTO should be technical

#91

Post by citizenpaul »

random314 wrote: post #72
citizenpaul wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a CTO once. Transparency is not your job. You're job is to keep telling your reports that everything is on track no matter what everything else is just "rumors". If you don't they will start getting anxiety or looking for new jobs instead of pressing on. This could actually be the difference between what makes things fail or succeed. You're job is not to be transparent or honest. Its to make sure everyone stays…

> This will 100% require lying or being non-transparent at some point. Are you ok with employees and reports reciprocating by lying to you as well.

Yes. FYI They will lie to you regardless.

Re: A CTO should be technical

#92

Post by Keyframe »

Should a conductor know how to play instruments? Of course not, but it's imperative they know physical realities of playing each one. That's a key component of understanding where the orchestra is at and where you can take it. Is that technical? I'd argue it is.

Re: A CTO should be technical

#93

Post by kragen »

sponaugle wrote: post #67

I am a CTO, and have been for 20 years. 20 years ago I was co-founding a company, so that kind of CTO was very different than the CTO I am today. Starting a company meant I was the technical part of the company. Raising money, talking to VCs, customers, hiring, and all of the other usual growth stuff. Of course I developed code, architectures, plans, deployments. I deployed, installed network switching gear, configur…

You've been designing microprocessors for 20 years? By yourself, or do you mean that you're contributing to your team's microprocessor design? Were you sending out your own processor designs to MOSIS or CMP or something 20 years ago, or was this more an FPGA thing?

Re: A CTO should be technical

#94

Post by warent »

citizenpaul wrote: post #90
baby wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Transparency is not your job I would argue the opposite: transparency is one of the biggest part of your job. You're not in a leadership position, and it's your choice: do you want an opaque company where politics drive individual success? Or do you want a transparent company where employees respect their leaders and where the best insight wins?

Real life is not fair. If the company initiative is to be transparent then sure you can be. However that is the vast minority of companies. Though people on HN may have a skew to thinking the opposite.

Curious to know where the statement "real life is not fair" is coming from / what it's referring to.

Re: A CTO should be technical

#95

Post by sponaugle »

kragen wrote: post #93
sponaugle wrote: post #67

I am a CTO, and have been for 20 years. 20 years ago I was co-founding a company, so that kind of CTO was very different than the CTO I am today. Starting a company meant I was the technical part of the company. Raising money, talking to VCs, customers, hiring, and all of the other usual growth stuff. Of course I developed code, architectures, plans, deployments. I deployed, installed network switching gear, configur…

You've been designing microprocessors for 20 years? By yourself, or do you mean that you're contributing to your team's microprocessor design? Were you sending out your own processor designs to MOSIS or CMP or something 20 years ago, or was this more an FPGA thing?

Oh no.. the microprocessor stuff is purely a technical hobby, although it was what I specialized in undergrad EE, and I worked at Intel for 3 years right out of college. I have done FPGA designs, simulated designs in HDLs, and even a few really cool 74X digital logic based designs and implementations... and so many on paper experiments during occasional long boring meetings.

The interesting aspect of doing microprocessor designs is the journey from the ISA concept through the implementation, discovering along the way all of the fantastic mistakes you have made.

It really makes a better software engineer out of me.

Doing deeply technical hobbies has improved my view and skill in so many areas, as well as helped me understand areas that I really suck at... which there are plenty!

Re: A CTO should be technical

#96

Post by metadat »

sponaugle wrote: post #67

I am a CTO, and have been for 20 years. 20 years ago I was co-founding a company, so that kind of CTO was very different than the CTO I am today. Starting a company meant I was the technical part of the company. Raising money, talking to VCs, customers, hiring, and all of the other usual growth stuff. Of course I developed code, architectures, plans, deployments. I deployed, installed network switching gear, configur…

^ for context, sponaugle is CTO of Surescripts, LLC; a 500 employee SMB.

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/surescripts

Re: A CTO should be technical

#97

Post by citizenpaul »

capableweb wrote: post #54
citizenpaul wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a CTO once. Transparency is not your job. You're job is to keep telling your reports that everything is on track no matter what everything else is just "rumors". If you don't they will start getting anxiety or looking for new jobs instead of pressing on. This could actually be the difference between what makes things fail or succeed. You're job is not to be transparent or honest. Its to make sure everyone stays…

> Transparency is not your job. > You're job is to keep telling your reports that everything is on track no matter what > This will 100% require lying or being non-transparent at some point. Following this advice is another way of loosing employees, at least I'd leave a company quickly if the CTO started lying about potential problems not being problems. In the end, depends on the company. Usually the company I've wo…

>all will be good when we release

Well I've literally been in the position where this was true to close a deal so we could stay in business. What would be the best option in your opinion? Risk a critical person leaving right then and loosing the customer and then losing everyone job? Or lying and telling them we are all ok just keep on doing your job and don't listen to rumors?

You are espousing false virtue/armchair quarterback. Real life is complex and lying can save many people jobs.

Re: A CTO should be technical

#98

Post by personjerry »

sponaugle wrote: post #67

I am a CTO, and have been for 20 years. 20 years ago I was co-founding a company, so that kind of CTO was very different than the CTO I am today. Starting a company meant I was the technical part of the company. Raising money, talking to VCs, customers, hiring, and all of the other usual growth stuff. Of course I developed code, architectures, plans, deployments. I deployed, installed network switching gear, configur…

Why was it a mistake to introduce yourself as such?

Re: A CTO should be technical

#99

Post by bbojan »

I always envisioned a CTO should be something like a Chief Pilot in the airline world. In an airline, Chief Pilot is the highest-ranking member of management that can (and does) still fly passengers around. This gives them unique insight into flight operations.

So a CTO should be someone that can still (and from time to time does) write code. Doesn't mean they do it every day, but still enough to give them insight into the development process.

I'm not sure if this is feasible in really large companies, but I think definitely should be the case in small and medium ones.

Re: A CTO should be technical

#100

Post by walrus01 »

metadat wrote: post #96
sponaugle wrote: post #67

I am a CTO, and have been for 20 years. 20 years ago I was co-founding a company, so that kind of CTO was very different than the CTO I am today. Starting a company meant I was the technical part of the company. Raising money, talking to VCs, customers, hiring, and all of the other usual growth stuff. Of course I developed code, architectures, plans, deployments. I deployed, installed network switching gear, configur…

^ for context, sponaugle is CTO of Surescripts, LLC; a 500 employee SMB. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/surescripts

^ for context, Jeff S also has a vast array of technical hobbies whether it's restoring early 1980s microcomputers, tearing a subaru WRX down to its smallest discrete pieces and rebuilding the entire drivetrain, or designing his own home solar power system... He's basically a modern polymath of nerd like pursuits.

Jeff is the CTO version of the guy who wants and needs to "Get his hands dirty" in the cutting edge of whatever technical discipline he's engaged in, for the purpose of keeping himself mentally sharp and fully aware of the subject matter at hand. Even if he buys subaru engine parts from a specialist he puts a lot of time/research into thoroughly understanding what he's putting together. He's kind of locally well known in the pacific NW nerd community for these things.

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