[exceptione]

Wasn't the issue that the CTO was underwater and you were brought in? So, could it not be the case that he is trying to recover?

> At some point, this does just point to me being the CTO tbh.

Do you want to take over from him? If you silently feel you can do a better job than him and you want his job, it helps getting clarity for yourself about that. You envision how he should do his job if he was you. Maybe he is burnt by the past work load. Maybe he is letting you burn down, knowingly or not. Try to make a connection on a level where you don´t judge anymore.

[headscientist]

Great question. If he were fulfilling what I view as his responsibilities, I would not necessarily feel it imperative to take over for him. If he were to leave — whether voluntarily or forced out — I would gladly take over the role. I'm qualified for it and I'd be the natural choice. Not sure if that answers your question. I generally have ambitions to continue to level up and that definitely involves being in the CTO spot somewhere, but I don't feel it has to be here and now. But if they wanted me to take over, I'd very excited to do so.

I think you're right in general though that I really do need to do some soul-searching to figure what I want.

[headscientist]

Oh and yes, I do think he's "trying" to recover in a sense. The thing I'm unsure about — and maybe he himself is unsure of — is whether that ship has sailed and he's either unable or unwilling or unmotivated to recover.