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A CTO should be technical

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Re: A CTO should be technical

#101

Post by sponaugle »

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

Indeed, having a somewhat unique name allows quick identification. We are probably a bit closer to 700 people now, and in the 20-30 billion transactions/yr, so very data and critical infrastructure heavy... which in itself has been very much a learning experience.

Re: A CTO should be technical

#102

Post by sponaugle »

personjerry wrote: post #98
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?

A play on the words.. my title was Chief Technology Officer, not Chief Technical Officer.... which in the context of this post is perhaps telling!

Re: A CTO should be technical

#103

Post by [deleted] »

personjerry wrote: post #98
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?

[deleted]

Re: A CTO should be technical

#104

Post by tagyro »

No. Or at least, not always.

IMO,a CTO is a combo between tech and product. They have a (fairly) good understanding of tech but they understand that tech is there to support the product. I'm ok with a tech CTO and I'm also ok with a people-CTO, even a product-CTO or even (ok, hardly) a business-CTO, but let's not gate-keep the CTO role (and it's just a role!).

ps. yes, I know CTO means Chief Technical Officer - but if you really think about it, tech is there to support the product, so it's really un-productive to focus on the tech when it would be better to focus on the product.

ps2. let's stop with the very confident titles, IMO most of the time they're simply wrong (I'll dig in my history for more examples)

Re: A CTO should be technical

#105

Post by muglug »

chpmrc wrote: post #82

I have a really hard time working for someone who isn't technical, regardless of their role. I also have a hard time buying into the narrative that someone can be just a good manager. As an engineer and a manager I took my time to understand the basics of management, design, marketing, business development etc. to have educated conversations while building a product so I don't see why someone in those roles shouldn't…

> I have a really hard time working for someone who isn't technical, regardless of their role.

In both cases — technical manager and non-technical manager — the engineering culture at the organisation ultimately determines whether the arrangement is successful.

In the past I’ve experienced friction working for a manager who had different ideas about how particular technical problems should be addressed.

Re: A CTO should be technical

#106

Post by rektide »

citizenpaul wrote: post #46
dijit wrote: post #23

I just became a CTO. So, let me bear my thoughts. Since July of this year I've been CTO for a small games company, I've worked in this industry before in a more specialised role but this is much broader scope. I've gone from being responsible for 1 person to 10 which will likely become 50 by the end of next year. I'm terrified. I'm terrified because I feel like I will let my reports down. I'm terrified because a lot…

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 is the job for 80% of corporations, the same 80% of corporations ruled by non-technical highly-political spin-based organizations, that dont really grok what they are up to.

Having technical depth in the leadership ranks, having real competency & belief & understanding in what you are doing, is, alas, not common. But wow, what a difference it makes for an org.

Re: A CTO should be technical

#108

Post by zerr »

dijit wrote: post #23

I just became a CTO. So, let me bear my thoughts. Since July of this year I've been CTO for a small games company, I've worked in this industry before in a more specialised role but this is much broader scope. I've gone from being responsible for 1 person to 10 which will likely become 50 by the end of next year. I'm terrified. I'm terrified because I feel like I will let my reports down. I'm terrified because a lot…

That's why becoming a CTO shouldn't be treated as promotion or "next level". And there should be the same compensation level for individual contributors.

Re: A CTO should be technical

#109

Post by warent »

citizenpaul wrote: post #85
stormbrew wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're job is to keep telling your reports that everything is on track no matter what everything else is just "rumors". Sometimes your employees can tell things aren't going well, and you bald face lying to them like this will make them leave even faster. This is also a great strategy to fuck people over, where if they believe in the stability of the company right until the day layoffs are announced they might have…

I actually wrote several responses and realized I was rambling on because of just how difficult it is to explain the reality of being in a decision making role. Rumors and politics are far far more prevalent than any acutal problems that will affect your people. It is not your job to be responsible for other peoples personal lives, you are not the messiah. All you can do is fight to get them the pay they deserve. Wha…

There seems to be quite a lot wrong in this post in my humble opinion... In brief, this reads as:

  * Allowing rumor/politics to become malignant through deceit rather than healing through truth
  * Dismissing responsibility for other people's livelihood because "hey its not my fault they didn't save money in case I throw them in the guillotine"
  * Using lack of information as a reason to lie, rather than just telling your workers that you don't know the answers.
These are definitely the antithesis of "good" leadership. "Good" from an empathetic, humane perspective, and "good" for business and profit. It's true we have to make unpopular, hard, sad decisions. Yet it is absolutely imperative that we remain mindful and diligent to our team as individual humans.

Re: A CTO should be technical

#110

Post by sankumsek »

personjerry wrote: post #98
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?

Usually CTO == Chief Technology Officer, not Chief Technical Officer. But an amusing slip of the tongue that kinda works out! :)
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