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I found this funny quote from Nathan Myhrvold, former CTO of Microsoft, on the Wikipedia page pertaining to the responsibilities of CTO’s:
“Hell if I know. You know, when Bill [Gates] and I were discussing my taking this job, at one point he said, ‘Okay, what are the great examples of successful CTOs?’ After about five minutes we decided that, well, there must be some, but we didn’t have on the tip of our tongues exactly who was a great CTO, because many of the people who actually were great CTOs didn’t have that title, and at least some of the people who have that title arguably aren’t great at it. My job at Microsoft is to worry about technology in the future. If you want to have a great future you have to start thinking about it in the present, because when the future’s here you won’t have the time.”
I came across a very insightful article describing the role of a Chief Technology Officer. Some of the key points include:
- The CTO should not manage developers
- A CTO should not manage a hardware team or an infrastructure group
- The Chief Technology Officer matches new technological capabilities with business needs
- The CTO is not an advocate, but a strategic planner and thinker
- The CTO needs to understand the abstract potential that a new technology might offer, and must know the underlying architecture of the firm’s business processes
- The CTO must have a high degree of professional integrity
I stumbled across an interesting article describing the changing CTO role in enterprises. The article is a couple years old and written from more of a European perspective but I think it is still relevant today. I especially like this paragraph:
The CTO role as it exists in some organisations today can be a strange one. It is a term that has come from technology-centric companies such as Telcos, IT vendors etc who clearly need a technology visionary at the top of the organisation. But it has then been transposed into non-tech organisations, becoming a badge assumed by the people with the best technology expertise. But that doesn’t seem appropriate for many. It can be difficult to justify the value of having a chief technical individual without accountabilities for realisation in non-tech-centric industries. Without accountabilities, CTOs’ offices can become a strange kind of retained in-house IT analyst organisation, which isn’t linked to value as the business would define it, and doesn’t exactly help with business-IT alignment.
That last sentence really hits home. All to often the CTO office becomes the domain of the wise technology sage. As a CTO it is challenging at times to see how your input and work is translated into business value.
I read a good article in the Star Tribune this morning about staying motivated in a slow-changing business environment. It’s hard to stay motivated as a visionary if people around you are afraid to change or people are content with the status quo. The article was written from the perspective of a counselor but it could easily apply to any CTO or technology leader.
I’m borrowing the title from a great article I stumbled across by Lance Glasser. The article is a must read for CTOs of high tech companies. I wasn’t familiar with his work but he is obviously a very bright guy. In summary, he believes that CTOs need to fulfill a number of roles:
1) Ensure the company has the best technology.
2) Create business options and opportunities for the organization.
3) Be the public face of technology for the company.
4) Play a role in the corporate strategic thinking.
I’m delighted to read an article about CTO duties that is isn’t just a basic job description. Well done!
I still don’t know exactly how to define what a CTO does — and I am one. It’s one of those techie titles that means different things to different people. Some people think that a CTO is the head tech guy within an organization. He is the wizard behind the curtain. Others look at him as the futurist that always understands the pulse of the technology ecosystem.
CTOs are dangerous. They generally like change. They are a fast moving part in a slow moving system. They take risks because failing is better than succeeding poorly.
They have more technology smarts than most people in an organization. But those smarts can also be a weakness. Ego can create divisions and resentment. People want to be lead and not driven.
Some parts move faster in an analog clock than others. But all parts have to follow the same beat, the same rhythm. Sometimes CTOs want to beat their own drum and lead the organization in a direction it doesn’t want to go.
I read an interesting article this week in CIO.com about unhealthy CTO roles: CTO: A Dangerous Title. The article is definitely worth a read. The one negative is that it doesn’t tell me what a healthy CTO should be doing in an organization.
The Unofficial CTO Blog is a sounding board for thoughts and ideas, rants and raves, critiques and reviews, and pretty much anything else that might stir the pot.
It’s written by a real CTO and it does not express the beliefs, intentions, desires, wants, needs, or plans of the company he works for. His company will disavow any knowledge of anything he writes in this blog.
Let’s see what happens.
