Ideas for technology leaders
Explore recent news, awards, and stories from the heart of technology leadership education.
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An Engineering Manager (EM) at TechGlobal Ltd seeks advice on improving the working relationship with a Principal Engineer (PE) who, despite having extensive experience and a strong principled approach, poses challenges in team interactions and project progress.
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This article explores the critical role design thinking plays in modern technology leadership and offers steps to switch to it
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Visionary leaders possess an innate ability to predict trends, envision revolutionary products, or foresee shifts in consumer behaviour long before they become apparent to others.
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Strong tech leadership provides a compelling vision and roadmap, improving team focus and motivation. Combined with a culture of trust and open communication, it creates a high level of psychological safety for the team. In turn, such a team is more open to risk-taking, innovation and honest discussion of challenges.…
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AgileX Solutions, a leading Software as a Service (SaaS) company encounters a significant challenge when its non-technical Chief Executive Officer (CEO) mandates the use of quantitative metrics to gauge the engineering team’s performance. This requirement starkly contrasts with the perspective of the Head of Engineering (HoE), who advocates for a more nuanced, holistic evaluation approach….
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We summarise the duality of influence and what wielding influence as a leader means from the perspective of responsibility.
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This case study spotlights the need for harmonising business drive and technical stability, managing technical debt, fostering team resilience and responding effectively to crises. It invites readers to contribute ideas for better CEO-CTO alignment and ends as a parable warning of the dangers of strategic misalignment in tech companies.
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A minute-guide on how tech leaders can foster a Mentoring culture to accelerate personal, professional and company's growth
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Mia, an Engineering Manager, has led her team through several successful product launches, earning praise for their creativity and dedication. However, a challenge from senior management casts a shadow over these achievements. The team’s hard work is starting to take its toll, not due to Mia’s leadership but from the VP of Engineering’s intense pressure…
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In a rapidly growing technology company, the engineering, product and platform teams exhibit significantly different senses of urgency regarding project delivery and innovation. This misalignment leads to delays, frustration, inefficient workflows and, ultimately, loss of a competitive edge. Our Global CTO Community offers actionable advice.
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Members of our Global CTO Community give their opinion on the best choice(s)/practice(s) to manage a corporate website
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The CTO of a start-up is facing a challenge with a Senior Engineer who, despite a promising start and strong technical skills, is delivering work far slower than expected. This situation has arisen after replacing a previous bad hire and deciding how to “delicately” proceed. Our Community offers advice.
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91% of global tech leaders identified tech debt as a 'major concern'. So in this article, we take a deep dive into tech debt with contributions from five senior technology leaders across the CTO Academy community. They will provide their perspective on the problem and potential mitigation strategies towards the…
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An organisation has embarked on a new journey, setting cross-departmental objectives that necessitate seamless collaboration among the subteam leaders from different departments. A team lead, Anisha and her PM counterpart, Gabriella, are at the forefront of this challenge. But they are in conflict with each other.
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🙌 Helping us keep everything on track is our man from Brazil, celebrating 12 months with CTO Academy … Here's a spotlight on Marco Aurélio Zimmermann
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In this post, we explain a Field CTO role, how it differs from a traditional CTO role, what are the job prospects and the average salary.
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Three months ago, Justin embarked on a pivotal journey as the new Head of Engineering at a startup, following the departure of the previous CTO. Commanding a team of eight, encompassing software developers and testers, Justin’s experience as a former team leader had primed him for this role. Yet, the path to leadership is often…
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This week one of our favourite community voices here at CTO Academy … spotlight on Serdar Mustafa 🙌
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When a business becomes over-reliant on one or two key developers and they become aware of it. It leads to a form of ‘developer blackmail’ that makes managing developers extremely difficult.
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It’s time to celebrate one of our unsung heroes … a spotlight on our MBA Course Manager, Natalia Welner
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Learn everything about the IT Manager role, job description and responsibilities and see a case study of managing a new project from scratch.
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🙌 This week we turn the spotlight on our 2nd co-founder, Jason Noble ...
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For the modern CTO, knowledge generally comes wrapped in three forms … Technical This is often about building a T-shaped skill set, with a general awareness of different technologies, alongside a deep understanding of at least one. This helps you to sharpen your BS antenna about what does and doesn’t “feel” right.…
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Five seasoned technology leaders answer a series of questions about their experiences managing mental health issues of their employees.
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We talked to a number of high-profile CTOs to understand the value of a CTO in funding processes. Their perspectives provide the true answer.
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We dive deep into the heating debate on pros and cons of AI, tackling all the dangers and challenges it brings to CTOs in near future.
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Information about CTO Academy Membership Package with a little background of our journey that has, ultimately, led to this unique feature.
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In this post, we explain a CTO job description, key responsibilities and qualifications of start-up, fast-growth, enterprise and Group CTOs.
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In this post, Jason Noble, Academy’s Chief Technology Officer, explains the design of highly relevant CTO KPIs and shows how to use them.
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Here we talk about tech teams, price's law and what should be the optimum size for a tech team.
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Tech Leadership in So Many Words...#20. Andrew deciphers "Confidence" in so many words and reveals the essence of it in business and life.
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Detailed insight into the organisational structure of a Chief Technology Office with roles, responsibilities, hierarchies and best practices.
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In this blog post, we are exploring the CTO salary range; separately for the United States and the United Kingdom, private and public firms.
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Explaining CTO vs CPO roles, the areas of intersection but also proven strategies for effective collaboration and conflict resolution
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In this article, we are explaining the practical side of CTO responsibilities in start-ups and fast-growth companies.
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This post explains the Interim CTO responsibilities, the onboarding process, tenure length and the transfer of powers to a permanent CTO.
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In this article, we are a) examining the most critical challenges of the Remote CTO role and, more importantly, b) providing practical solutions.
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How to most effectively transform a disparate group of individuals into a high-performance team capable of achieving that common goal?
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Learn what is a Deputy CTO, what the path to becoming one looks like and how to best prepare for a job interview.
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“Perfect is the enemy of good” - Voltaire I am not and never have been a perfectionist, something of a mixed blessing in the past. Some start-up projects went out too soon, were half-baked from the start and met with the underwhelming results they deserved. Whilst other projects went out too soon, but hit the ground…
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In this blog post, you will learn what makes a good CTO from the perspective of experienced and successful technology leaders and their CEOs.
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Find out the most common ways CTOs get into a board of directors and familiarise yourself with the process of each.
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A part-time CTO is a technology expert who works on a part-time or consulting basis for a company. The aim is to develop and implement the company's technology strategy and oversee all aspects of its technology operations and product development.
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In this post, we are explaining the role and responsibilities of a chief technology officer considering the size of the organisation.
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Keep an eye on your health by learning the art of marginal gains
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To maintain your CTO rock star status in a company, refrain from saying any of these 11 things to your CEO.
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We look into a tech leadership skill - humility, to quickly demonstrate its importance from the perspective of experience and practice
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Unprecedented advances and transformative trends are reshaping leadership in technology sector. As the rapid pace of technological innovation continues, the tech industry faces unique challenges and opportunities. The intersection of artificial intelligence, automation and data-driven insights demands visionaries who…
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When you’re a leader, motivation is a two-sided coin. One side is Personal Motivation and what’s driving you. The other is Team Motivation and what’s driving them.
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A Fractional CTO is a chief technology officer who provides on-demand services to a company or organization. In other words, it is a freelance contract that implies working for a fraction of the time and cost and just on the part of the project as opposed to full- or part-time CTO positions.
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The Digital MBA for Technology Leaders has been formally recognized and certified by the Continuing Professional Development Certification Service (CPDUK) as “conforming to continuing professional development principles”, recognizing both the high standard of professional training and exceptional value being…
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If there's one constant in our lives, it’s change. So we look at three key areas of change you will have to negotiate in your journey as a technology leader
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Managing corporate politics is never easy for technology leaders but in some organisations can be a fact of life. We look at where you should focus your energy in dealing with this issue.
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Shaping strategy is a key role for any Chief Technology Officer and so it's crucial for you to create the environment that gives you the space and time to become an effective strategist for your organization.
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Delegation is one of the hardest skills for technology leaders to master.
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Moving into technology leadership roles requires a fundamental change of mindset from being one of the team, to leading the team.
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Leadership vulnerability it allows team members to feel more comfortable being open and honest with their own concerns, and that will only enhance the team dynamic and their commitment to you and to the project.
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A leader is someone who draws others by his or her voice, actions, or choices.You have responsibilities and power as a leader that impact directly on people’s lives
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We launched CTO Academy in 2019 and work with technology leaders to help them build the leadership and broader skill set that enables them to achieve the career impact they want. So it's great to hear from our customers about their progress.
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The Global CTO Survey comes out every year and brings us great insight about what matters to the CTO in 2022.
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The unwritten laws of engineering was written in 1944 but remains relevant to tech leaders in 2021
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The leader’s job isn’t to have all the ideas. It’s to make sure all the ideas are heard and that the best one wins.
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We have all worked in places where the team doesn’t trust the leader. Where the leader doesn’t trust the team. It rarely ends well.
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What if you could anticipate every problem, issue or obstacle in life before they occurred? Effective tech leaders are able to anticipate more than most.
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What empathy is and should be ... is understanding an employee’s struggles, appreciating a person’s point of view and engaging in a healthy debate that builds to a better solution.
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CTO Academy Launches Scholarship Programme in Partnership with Women Who Code promoting women in technology careers
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To become a successful leader you need to acknowledge and understand how perception affects your relationship with other people and from that, your ability to lead.
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With 2000 near 5 star reviews, this course is changing the executive leadership landscape for technology leaders.
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To be an effective leader you need to acquire the skill of deep listening. Here is a Zulu principle that might help.
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There is no doubt that cybersecurity in companies is more important than ever. Cybersecurity Ventures predicts cybercrime will cost the world in excess of $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015
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I had experienced efficient code review practices before, so the question led me to articulate what had worked in the past.
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Being a CTO is much easier (or at least less challenging) when working on something you love rather than a motivation driven by less intrinsic factors, pressures or rewards.
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What makes the difference in leaders? Curiosity stands out amongst a leading quality ...
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What does a CTO need from the CEO? What does a CTO think the CEO needs from them?
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What will stop you getting that dream CTO job? Our Head of Careers has some ideas ...
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Find out what is the average CTO salary in India, what are the key factors that influence earnings and what can you do to increase them.
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Critical thinking skills are vital in leadership role. One needs to be able to reason, understand and solve problems.
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Start your journey to becoming a CTO with these 7 steps that will help you become a highly effective technology leader
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We live in a dynamic era one in which a new trend today can become a way of life tomorrow. Those who don’t adapt to these changes are at risk of falling significantly behind. It can be worse for organisations because those who don't adapt are at risk of perishing.
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One of the most important tech leadership skills is the ability to delegate. You need to trust your team and give them the autonomy that drives innovation. It's time for you to let it go ...
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I have tried to detail in this blog specific changes in my role as I took on this new status as CTO and the challenges I personally faced. This week I've been reflecting on how my life looked before and since.
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What is your expectation of an effective leader? Confident. Knowledgeable. Charismatic. Good Orator. Natural Leader. Inspiring. Expert. But in addition, how about lonely and/or isolated?
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Managing change has always been at the core of a technology leader's job description but whereas 10-15 years ago the focus was on tech change, today it’s more likely to be people and culture change that a tech leader has to deal with.
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It’s not only computer systems that need a firewall but anyone in a tech leadership position needs to build one for themselves.
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As a CTO there's multiple projects to juggle with on a day-to-day basis so you need to master the art of context switching.
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An article exploring the difference between thermostats and thermometers and how it applies to leadership and the teams we lead
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CTO jobs are pretty nebulous at best, what a CTO does is ill defined and never well understood, we're lots of different things to lots of different people.
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Creativity has helped many people through the pandemic but what's the science behind when that creative moment arrives?
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CTO Academy looks at why leadership training and support is particularly important for tech leaders in fast growth companies.
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Discover how our hiring strategy evolved to support growth, focusing on talent, team dynamics and innovative practices that drive success.
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Owen is based in New Zealand and has been a tech leader for more than a decade and for 6 years was a chief architect at Xero. His tech expertise and strategic oversight is helping CTOs and senior leadership teams around the world to achieve growth within a software engineering heavy company. He also shares our…
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Meet Jim Mortensen, a key member of our team at CTO Academy. Discover his expertise, vision, and contributions that drive innovation and success in technology leadership.
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To be successful as a technical leader you need an exceptional technical team but the good news as a leader, is that you own the responsibility to build and grow that team.
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CTO Academy collaborated with The School of Code for a presentation on a career in tech and leadership development
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Suddenly as I stepped into a tech leadership role i was facing unknowns where my decisions would impact directly on my team and how effective they and I could be
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Managing a negative team member is never easy so this article looks at how it can be handled.
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Active listening is very different to hearing and it is what differentiates an effective leader from an average manager.
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A lot of us have spent 2020 adapting to the new normal and a lot of us have found remote working for the first time. I’ve been there for a few years and worked in organisations that have embraced remote first mentality before it was cool required by a pandemic. Here are ten things my teams work on when working remotely
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Emotional intelligence (“EQ”) in the workspace is a leadership topic and conversation that become particularly hot in recent years.
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Experiencing at first hand the challenges faced by someone dropped into a CTO role ahead of their planned schedule aka The Accidental CTO.
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