161–170 of 367 posts
As I see it, CTOs are responsible for
- Making Build/Buy decisions
- Hiring
- Setting up a culture of learning
- Balancing tech and product priorities
- Setting up delivery processes that work for the team
- And finally for architecture and system design
I feel in that order of priority.
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…
There’s a variety of options available to you, options that can deliver the best outcome for the business, your reports and yourself — many of which can be fantastic outcomes for all.
Ultimately, building a business is a relay and you will at some point have to pass on the baton: if you fear that inevitability, that needs to be an immediate focus. What can you do to ensure that you can pass the baton on with confidence?
Positioning yourself as not “the CTO” but rather “the person establishing the business’ approach to technology” (which is achieved by utilising the CTO role today) can be a very powerful shift in attitude: you’re setting the technology organisation up for the baton to be handed over to the person ready to lead the next stage with confidence.
If I were in your position, I’d be talking with the other leadership in the business and clearly communicating that you don’t want this role indefinitely, I’d put a plan together for the next 12 - 18 months that involves bringing someone in to replace you, someone for you to pass the baton to.
A bad outcome for the business would be you spending the next 12 months silently stewing in your own anxiety and fear and then have a breakdown and disappear without any notice and the business is thrown into chaos.
As a leader, you don’t need to be perfect or a brilliant jack of all trades or a genius or even the smartest in the room, but you do need to operate with confidence though. If you don’t have confidence in something, focus on getting the confidence.
(For what it’s worth, the shift from where you are now to where you need to be is almost exclusively in attitude, it’s not some insurmountable challenge.)
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 i…
The CTO absolutely must be technical, not just because of respect, but also because other C-level execs need someone to explain simple things to them. If not, then you end up like Intel.
[1]: not as in be CTO and do a workload of senior engineer, but rather "if you weren't a CTO, would you be hired as a senior?"
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.
I will say that a CTO of a large company has to have a really good read on the technical constraints. Whether this is achieved through technical expertise, or having a warchest of talented lieutenants is an implementation detail. That said, even the lieutenants can't be in every room, and if the company faces substantial technical challenges, there is a high risk that a non-technical CTO makes commitments the team can't live up to.
In a well-functioning team, a lot of this can be papered over by the lower-level folks (managers and ICs) finding a way to do the right thing on an unofficial basis. I would go so far as to say that all successful companies depend on that unofficial network of clueful employees doing the right thing in spite of formal guidance. But at some point leadership is going to have to make some decisions, and when that time comes you better hope they have put at least as many hours into their relative domain competence as they have into schmoozing big wigs.
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 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…
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…
No first time CTO's had it figured out either - continue to show the courage to ask advice (as you've done here) and figure it out bit by bit. Nobody has made your org before - there's no playbook only prior work.
The flip side is if that is of zero interest, you're likely in the wrong role. No shame, depends what motivates you.
I'd say it's important for a CTO to be a CTO. I've been at too many places where the CTO only wanted to be a software developer/architect and would not focus on process, cost, employees, etc. CTO is a leadership role, and leadership means you have to take care of all the responsibilities under your authority, not just the interesting ones. IMHO, too many people chase the CTO title but few really want the actual job.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?