Of CTOs and VPs of Engineering
Posted on September 09, 2014 by oubiwann
I have been asked more than once to assist with clarifying roles as organizations grow in size. In particular, the relationship between a CTO and the head of engineering and how these should be balanced. Often the question will be phrased like "Who should do what?" or "Who has what responsibilities?" Sometimes you will hear objections regarding loss of power, status, ability to influence direction, etc.
We always want to know how things turn out: "Will I get what I want?" "Will the solution be good for me?" Those tendencies need to be set aside in the interest of the greater good. That approach might not result in technically incorrect answers, it's just not the most efficient way to go about it.
There are a paralyzing number of potential solutions to organizational balance problems; you need to narrow those down to ones which fit your strategies and the resources you have access to. The prettiest solution in the world isn't going to matter if you don't have the necessary ingredients.
Below is a set of quick guidelines to get you on the right path where a final choice is driven by straight-forward analysis.
Starting Point
- What are the overall business goals?
- What is the technological vision? How will tooling and related expertise help your company attain its business goals?
- Refresh on the challenges the company is expected to face from now until 18 to 24 months.
- Refresh on the actual culture of the company (e.g., not just what we'd like to be but who we are).
This isn't just an icebreaker. You will use this information.
Role Strengths
Brainstorm with leaders in each
Potential Constituents
XXX
Candidate Strengths
XXX
These need to be weighed against the
Narrowing The Field of Options
Review the notes from the "Starting Point" brainstorming session. To have an outcomes that is consistent with the goals and operations of the organization at all scales, assessment needs to take each organizational level into account – their goals, values, and core competencies.
- Weight candidate strengths
Comments?
This blog doesn't use standard (embedded) comments; however, since
the site is hosted on Github, if there is
something you'd like to share, please do so by
opening a
"comment" ticket!