Aspiring. To be a CTO ?

CTO – Chief Technology Officer. This is something which has come across multiple times in my career. Many of my mentors/friends/colleagues has mentioned about this. This write up is a reflection of my thoughts on the same as we I read through some of the influential CTOs of our times.

What is it ?

Typically the term CTO came into existence largely in 1980s after technology started playing vital role in the organization. This role focuses on the Short/long term technology needs of the organization. Though this role or designation was predominant in IT Industry , now a days this has been across in all industries. Other terms this could be referred as VP – Technology, Head-Technology, R & D – Director, etc.,

What defines a great CTO ?

In 2019 Jean-Michel Prouillet-Leplat submitted a thesis on “What defines a great CTO ?” in MIT. He has prepared a quantitative analysis of 100 CTOs to understand their tenure duration and career history along with interviews with 20 CTOs to understand their activities, responsibilities and the context that influences the span of impact. I believe this could be lot of useful insights. I’m presenting my inferences from the readings of it.

He indicates five Personas of CTOs: The Evangelist, the Anchor, the Coordinator, the Visionary, and the Strategist. In my view this echo’s very well who has been generalist in the technology world who has deep rooted fundamentals of technology as a premise. It indicates the role would cut across Business, Technology and Product areas with both internal and external focus.

In the literature review section he indicates various findings as the responsibilities of the CTO. The following items or points are very useful for some one who are aspiring to be CTO to cross check their current status:

• Coordinate of technological efforts among business unit
• Represent technology within the top management
• Monitor technological advances
• Supervise R&D laboratories
• Assess technological aspects of major strategic initiatives
• Manage the relationship of the company with technological actors

Also he goes on to highlight key qualities from literature review references:

• Deep understanding of customers and, for B2B companies a reputation and networks in the customer space
• Deep understanding of the company’s current technology
• Curiosity to learn about potentially relevant new technologies coming on line or in development
• Acuity to see the implications and possible uses of such technologies
• External networks (including with actors such as universities, start-ups, and venture capital)
• Mastery of systems engineering;
• Willingness to challenge the status quo.

My personal inference or important take aways based on reading of the thesis goes like the following:

• CTOs play has both internal(Engineering, R & D, Vision, Monitoring technology innovation) and external focus(Events, Partnerships, Hiring,etc.,)
• Interestingly not all CTOs have technical background
• Communication and ability to bridge the gap between business and technology is crucial function.
• They have heterogeneous responsibilities(Engineering, Research, Business, Product) unlike other CXOs.
• CTOs report directly to the CEO or Business Unit President
• CTOs roles evolve with the business maturity of the company