This really is a one-sided view. I'm not saying it is an incorrect view, but I find that all dogmatic stances are only correct part of the time. Some small companies need a technical CTO. Large companies need a leader who can effectively delegate the technical aspects to his organization. Companies in the middle... will vary.
A CTO should be technical
151–160 of 367 posts
Re: A CTO should be technical
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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.
My reports have lied to me very rarely, and I have never had to lie to my reports. For the reports that lied to me, I managed them out of my team irrespective of their work performance.
I have quit jobs where my manager lied to me. It is really really easy to tell when someone is lying.
You seem to live in some alternate dystopia where everyone lies to each other. How many of the companies that you have worked at have gone under?
Re: A CTO should be technical
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
>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…
"Things are tough right now, but once we close this deal then we'll be in a much more comfortable position. Your role on this is critical to our success." Is this not a reasonable way of approaching it? It seems to be simultaneously honest and empowering. What lie is necessary? EDIT: slight revision
Compulsive liars cannot change their habits.
Re: A CTO should be technical
#154Different problems at different altitudes.
Re: A CTO should be technical
#155I 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 worked for a non technical manager, and it was ok. because he trusted his employees. he said this is the deliverable, and these are the constraints, what do you need, who do you need, and how much do you need. we told him, and he went to fucking bat. obviously he picked up a little here and there, but by no means could do the job of a junior. it worked well, he shielded us from the corporate politics, got us everyt…
Totally agree there's no hard and fast rules here. That said, this person probably lucked out with a dependable team, and no doubt relied on intra-leadership (from yourself or peers I would assume!) to manage - and deliver - effectively. This kind of dependability doesn't usually appear out of thin air. It's also a bit of a catch 22 to replicate.
I've worked with similar people and there is definitely a place for them (tho probably not at the peak of the structure). But it's also nice to have someone that can critically discuss a solution and sign off on decisions that they fully understand. IMO.
Re: A CTO should be technical
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dropbox also completely lost the market they invented to Box, largely because of nontechnical considerations.
Dropbox has about twice the revenue of Box. Box was founded a couple of years before Dropbox. However, both only have a small share of the value of consumer and commercial cloud storage at this point.
When i talked to dropbox folks like 5 years ago they scoffed at box only being a third of their revenue. Sounds like they’re closing the gap
Re: A CTO should be technical
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dropbox also completely lost the market they invented to Box, largely because of nontechnical considerations.
As Steve Jobs said, DropBox was always going to end up being a feature not a product. For the same price you pay for DropBox, you can get the complete Office 365 with 5 TB of storage for five people or GSuite with storage.
Imo that quote only ever made sense when you add "[compared to apple]" which was likely how he meant it. Also have you tried actually using gsuite storage?
Re: A CTO should be technical
#158Agreed. It's a little like an orchestra conductor. They don't (usually) play an instrument on stage, but they certainly can, and they have a deep understanding of each instrument in the orchestra, its function, potential and how it is operated (so te speak), and of the score itself.
Actually, the way I see it, the orchestra conductor would be the COO (if it were a C-level job at all).
The CTO would not be involved at all in the daily performance of concerts; the CTO would be the one setting standards for the instruments and their maintenance, auditing and overseeing the acoustic treatment of the concert hall, and advising the CEO on new upcoming instruments that might make a great addition to the orchestra.
Re: A CTO should be technical
#159I 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…
You need to be technical enough to say no to a partnership, acquisition, or technical strategy that is bullshit. Most of the time, the Spidey sense to make that kind of a due dill judgement only comes through having been a technical employee. (Though having been a technical employee by no means guarantees that, either)
Re: A CTO should be technical
#160Earlier 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. I've only been performing roles of director / vp to small/mid size companies so far, so maybe there's some secret CTO sauce I'm still missing. To me this advice seems toxic and destructive. Vent upwards, yes. Manage expectations,…
There is only so much you can hide. Do you have BI? Well, they know numbers better than you, guess what? They talk to the rest of the company.
Do you have metrics available somewhere? Doesn't matter real-time or N days report - people can connect the dots: signs up are flat, but we keep hiring.
You can't meet requirements without marketing pushes? Well, shit, I wonder if a company spends 2 dollars to earn 1 dollar.
You can lie and bullshit all you want, but your reports and their reports will know.
I worked in a company where the analytics team suddenly decided to leave, all within days of each other. Month later - layoff. They weren't told that things are bad, they were the one who told you that things are bad.