16 things CTOs often DON’T DO but should learn to do

1. Putting metrics in place that truly reflect the performance of engineering in response to business needs
2. Being a proactive business problem solver rather than a reactive fire fighter
3. Making the business case for the resources they ask from the board
4. Building tech strategy to deliver the business strategy
5. Having difficult conversations early to prevent further decay of the situation
6. Telling the CEO / board in business terms what engineering is working on, why and where they are in relation to deliverables agreed for the business strategy.
7. Using engineering tools because they are the best tool for the MVP the business needs, that’s most cost effective; rather than using engineering tools because they like, or are familiar with, these particular ones
8. Building products at the level of speed, quality and functionality that’s needed for that specific stage in the business and market.
9. Negotiating proactively with the board and other departments on key aspects of engineering delivery to achieve business goals
10. Understanding that interpersonal relationships matter, both upstream with the board, as well as downstream with their staff, and that people are emotional beings first and logical creatures second.
11. Realising that the code base will have moved on since they worked on it and they should ask the engineers about the current state of development rather than assuming and making tech decisions with out of date information
12. Asking and listening to the engineers about the problems they have on the ground and how…