Growing up to be a CTO

Where do Chief Technical Officers come from? Are they grown on trees? Are they hatched on a CTO farm?

Many times they are grown from architects, engineers or developers. However, the CTO role can represent a drastic shift from what most production-oriented technical practitioners are prepared for or expecting. How are these growing pains best overcome?

Many CTOs start with a background of a lead developer or architect. They are consistently dealing with details. Crafting the direction of the solutions is important, but details are what make the rubber meet the road. Sure there is a team to lead and teaching to do, but the goal is to keep the solution moving forward. And when something is not going right, there is a tendency to step in and write it yourself.

Fast forward to your new role: your team is growing and there is a lot of work to do, but there are more people to do the work.

There comes a time when, in order to be an effective technical leader for your organization, you must take a step back and become more of an enabler of team velocity and technical direction and less of a doer. In order to accomplish this you must develop key technical people that you can trust. A CTO needs to create an environment and provide technology that enables their team to be successful. It is important to allow people to make their own decisions and learn from the experience – whether good or bad.

Though project work forges ahead without you directly involved, it’s important to still be a flex player and a visionary. Take some time to investigate a new technology or approach for a tricky aspect of the system. It is important to understand how the project being executed fits within your company’s solution portfolio and how effectively it solves your client’s needs.

A CTO must stay rooted in technology, discover new technologies and keep up with current practices and developments. He or she needs the respect of their team to effectively lead the organization’s technical direction. Amongst the technical staff, knowing how technology really works and is implemented to solve business problems is key.

Like management roles in any organization, a CTO should

• Develop staff
• Be a visionary
• Deliver on organization’s commitment to clients
• Lead by example

A CTO should just do all this within a technical framework, meanwhile staying at the top of the technology trends. Have I missed anything? Let us know your thoughts.