| I’m not a CTO, but I am a senior leader that also in the past helped found a leadership development program focused on management (tech and non tech related). As is always the case with this, one can code and one can also not code in a CTO position. Sometimes CTOs manage no one and are only focused on technology. Other times, they are the top of the management pyramid. Other times, they’re just one of a couple of engineers early in a startups lifecycle. No matter the situation, the truth remains that it’s not which path you take, it’s how you manage the path you choose. If you are a coding CTO with a lot of people, make sure you’re delegating the focus on the people components to another leader (hiring strategies, interviewing process, comp, reviews, high level program management, etc). If you are a CTO that focuses on people, make sure to bring on some senior ICs that can help lead the technical direction of the company. They should still be coding and empathizing with the team, and helping to highlight long term tech trends for the team to progressively adopt to stay current. Hire people that do the thing you don’t have time to do, and care deeply about doing that thing the org needs. Keep repeating that process all the way down the management chain, with a heavy focus on trust and delegation. People and teams fail when folks hang on to responsibility long after they should have given it up, because they aren’t self aware enough to realize they don’t have the time or knowledge anymore to effectively do a task. Don’t be that person! |