Название: Think Like a CTO (Final Release)
Автор: Alan Williamson
Издательство: Manning Publications
Год: 2023
Страниц: 320
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true)
Размер: 13.3 MB

An effective Chief Technology Officer shapes almost every aspect of a modern business. This book shares the experience and advice of veteran CTOs and industry experts for handling IT crises, leading tech teams, and creating an inspiring vision for your company.

In Think Like a CTO you will learn:

Effective interaction and relationship-building with other C-level executives
Creating long term visions and executing on short term goals
Interviewing, hiring, and terminating team members
Negotiating salaries and managing promotions
Architecting future-proofed systems
Handling security breaches and ransomware attacks
Putting together budgets and working with your CFO
Identifying and managing outsourced vendor opportunities
Managing and communicating bad news by leading with data, not passion
Being the kind of leader that employees want to follow and emulate

Becoming a CTO is an incredible accomplishment. It’s also one of the hardest transitions a technologist can make. This high-power and high-pressure role demands skills that are rarely developed as a software engineer. Think Like a CTO shines a light on all the areas an aspiring CTO needs to master to succeed. You’ll learn how to build incredible working relationships with the rest of the C-suite, transform a company with private equity, and recruit and manage your development team. With this book as your guide, you’ll quickly become a trusted leader figure with an inspiring vision for your company.

About the technology
The Chief Technology Officer balances business needs with the constantly evolving world of technology. Think Like a CTO helps you develop the skills and mindset you need to take on this critical role and emerge as a successful leader. Packed with insights from industry experts and veteran CTOs, this book shares practical strategies for navigating the high-stakes world of technology leadership.

About the book
Think Like a CTO shares hard-won lessons on how to thrive in the fast-paced role of Chief Technology Officer. Inside, you’ll learn to establish successful technology platforms and teams, with practical frameworks for software selection and implementation, bias-free interviews and performance reviews, and earning your place at the table with other senior leaders. You’ll appreciate the no-nonsense advice, insights, and war stories from CTO mentor Alan Williamson.

What's inside

Building productive relationships with other C-level executives
Negotiating salaries and managing promotions
Architecting future-proof systems
Handling security breaches and ransomware attacks

Who is this for?
If you fall into any of the following categories, then you are reading the right book.
- An experienced technologist wanting to make that next step in your career to CTO
- Serving as CTO, first time in the role, and you want to be sure you are doing everything you can
- Seasoned CTO and your company is growing rapidly and you are being asked to do things that you simply have no idea how to respond to
- Taking over from a previous CTO, with the executive team looking to you for big revolutionary changes
- A CEO/CFO who is looking to see if you need a CTO (and the sort of things they would do for you) and if so, how do you hire for this role

Depending on your company size, some of the chapters will not be relevant. They may be more appropriate for another time of your career or the company's evolution. However, even if that is the case, it does no harm for you to dip into the chapter and see what it would entail if there was an organization change and suddenly you were faced with managing that area. Besides, it is good to be able to offer moral support to those who are maybe dealing with it, and sympathize with their struggle.

This book will answer some of the questions you may have asked yourself, but dare not ask your CEO for fear of looking like you don’t know what you are doing. After all, they hired you to take care of everything that they cannot, so they need to have the confidence that they hired the right person for the job. Each chapter will visit a major area of responsibility and take a deep dive into those areas and outline the considerations you should be mindful of and strategies to manage each. That said, this is not a technology cookbook, I am not going to recommend Java over C#, or Amazon over Azure, or cloud vs data center.

Instead, I will give you the considerations that you should remember while making these enterprise level decisions, as the decision you are making could have long lasting effects, even well after you leave the role. I will be offering small case-studies throughout to help illustrate the decision process. Each decision you make, will be in the context of what the company needs and what resources you have at your disposal. There is no right or wrong - there may be a “wronger” way to do something, or a “righter” way, but a decision that is based on data and not gut instinct is always defendable.

This book will open your eyes to the areas of responsibility that a CTO may face in their career and give you the necessary skills to evaluate, understand and execute for a successful outcome within the context of your company.

"As someone who is based in a senior development role, I hadn't previously considered CTO as a possible destination for my career. Having read the start of this book, it opened my eyes as to how I could be quite suited to the role and the potential it offers." - Nik Rimington