What does a CTO do? E013

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What does a CTO Do? E013
A Bit of Security for March 28, 2024
Years ago, I became the Chief Technology Officer of Waveset, an Identity Management startup. Before taking the role, I asked a few experts about what the role would involve, and what should and should not be part of the job. I spoke with Brian O‘Higgins, then CTO of Bell Northern Research, which was about to launch Entrust, and Rich DeMillio, who was CTO of Hewlett-Packard before it merged with Compaq. Here are a few things I learned. First, a CTO is not the head of development. The job is about ideas, not about process and production. An effective CTO (on the vendor side) understands the capabilities of the technology well enough to determine if it would be helpful to solve a prospect’s business problem. An effective CTO (in the buyer’s organization) understands the range of business problems the enterprise faces and can hold a meaningful discussion about how certain technological capabilities might help resolve those problems.
Some businesses don’t require a CTO at all. If the industry is mature and unlikely to be disrupted by technological innovation, a CTO will add little value. Also, if the enterprise is a trailing-edge technology adopter (what Gartner calls a “type C” client) then rather than seek out new technologies, that business will wait till the tools are proven and adopt them when fully mature. But if you are in a business that seeks a technological competitive edge and understands the particular challenges working with early-stage vendors, then having a CTO will cut through the marketing nonsense quickly. And if you run into a vendor CTO who doesn’t make sense to you, don’t worry that you fail to understand your own situation. There are more than a few CTOs who are glib and clever and will attempt to mislead your team. Be impatient with them. Your business is struggling to grow and needs clarity, not language and footwork. Your job as CTO is to make sure that clarity stands up.

I published an earlier version of this material at