Mindset of a CTO – leadership book (e-book)

The CTO is no longer the best engineer in the building. Great CTOs turn technology into business advantage: they set the technical direction, build engineering teams that ship, balance speed against stability, manage technical debt, make the big architecture and build-or-buy calls, and translate complex trade-offs for the CEO and the board. This book explains how they think: the mindset shifts from engineer to executive, how a CTO spends the week, the decisions that matter most, building and scaling engineering teams, the metrics that matter, security and reliability, AI and new technology, the traps that derail new CTOs, and a 90-day plan.

• The mindset shifts from engineer to technology executive
• Architecture, build-or-buy, technical debt and AI from the CTO's chair
• Building, scaling and leading engineering teams that ship
• A 90-day plan and a self-assessment for new and aspiring CTOs
• Approx. 23 pages
• EPUB for e-readers and PDF for phone, tablet or print

From Best Engineer to Technology Leader

Most CTOs started as engineers, and many were the best engineer in the room. They could solve problems others couldn't, write the code nobody else could write, and debug the system at three in the morning. That's often how they got the job.

It's also the biggest trap of the role. The CTO's job isn't to be the best engineer. It's to make sure the company's technology creates value for the business, and to build an engineering organization that can deliver it without depending on any one person, least of all the CTO.

What the CTO does

The role varies with the company. In a startup, the CTO may still write code and design the architecture personally. In a large company, the CTO may lead thousands of engineers, or may focus on strategy and innovation while a VP of Engineering runs delivery. But most CTOs own some version of the same five things:

• Technology vision and strategy: where our technology is going, and how it supports the business strategy.
• Architecture: the big technical decisions that shape what we can build, how fast and at what cost.
• The engineering organization: hiring, structure, culture, practices and leadership.
• Delivery and reliability: shipping what matters, and keeping it running.
• Translation: helping the CEO, the board and the rest of the leadership team understand technology choices and their consequences.

CTO or CIO?

The titles are used differently in different companies. A common split is that the CTO focuses on the technology the company builds and sells, the product and platform, while the CIO focuses on the technology the company uses to run itself: internal systems, infrastructure and data. In many companies one person does both. Agree clearly on the boundaries with your CEO.

… The excerpt continues in the book.

1. From Best Engineer to Technology Leader
2. The Seven Mindset Shifts
3. How a CTO Spends the Week
4. The Decisions That Matter Most
5. Building the Engineering Organization
6. The Metrics That Matter
7. Security and Reliability
8. AI and New Technology
9. Relationships
10. Managing Technology Costs
11. The Product–Engineering Operating Model
12. From Startup to Scale
13. Explaining Technology to Non-Technologists
14. Data as a Strategic Asset
15. The Traps
16. Your First 90 Days
17. Self-Assessment

Format: E-book as EPUB (Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books, Kindle via “Send to Kindle”) and PDF.. Made with the help of AI and tested by our quality control. Not tax, accounting or legal advice. Terms and right of withdrawal