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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.
How does a CTO encourage innovation within an organization? It seems to me that one person can’t do it all. Innovation has to start from the ground up. Each staff member in an organization needs to provide input. The management team is there to support innovation and make sure resources are available to build upon innovative ideas.
I sense the struggles to generate and sustain innovation in my organization. Many of our management team members are concerned about reliability. Certainly reliability is a key part of any datacenter company’s reputation. But oftentimes reliability is equated with the status quo. Innovative ideas are viewed as risky and therefore a threat to reliability.
I’ve oftentimes considered splitting engineering and operations. Engineering could focus on innovation and operations could focus on reliability. But that flies in the face of the principle that innovation can arise from any part of the organization.
I’m still looking for the solution.
