This article was originally created by “TGO Kunpeng Club”, original link: A Review of basic SKILLS of CTO — Without these skills, how far will the future be?

Author | Liu Haixing

One sixth of 2018 will soon be over, how much have you completed your KPI?

Don’t get upset, what I’m really saying is that as a technology manager, instead of focusing on the KPI in front of you, you should be looking beyond. In 2017, TGO Kunpeng Association published many cTOS ‘articles and speeches. Today, we take stock of the “BASIC SKILLS of CTO” summarized by them. If you are still on your way to becoming a good CTO, read this summary to make up for your shortcomings and embrace your future.

The view

A CTO should not only focus on the latest operating system, hardware, or programming language. He should also know what evolution methods, test procedures, and platform architectures have proven to work and benefit your business growth.

A CTO should have a good technical vision. It does not need to be proficient in all kinds of technologies, but it must dabble in all of them. Because only by understanding the development trends and application scenarios of various technology fields can we construct a sound “technology world view”. The question of what technology to apply in what scenario, and what technology reserves to make in advance when the company’s business grows to what scale, will be solved naturally. Only in this way can we ensure the efficiency of current development while leaving room for future product architecture evolution to expand.

Technical background

The most important and critical factor in successfully managing engineers is the technical respect of the people you manage. You first need to have a deep understanding of the tools they use, the processes, and the art of programming. The deeper you understand, the more engaged and respected you will be in technical conversations with your engineers. Without technical respect, every concrete idea you have can be stymied either actively or passively.

The background accumulated in the technology industry is of great help to the work of CTO. If you have hands-on work experience rotating around various roles in the product development cycle, you will have a good understanding of how different teams, architectures, and products interact.

Team management

A CTO who works overtime is never a good CTO. A CTO is responsible for the realization of the company’s products. Therefore, a CTO should be good at managing the R&D team, controlling the progress of r&d work, and completing the r&d work of the company’s products within the planned time step by step. Constantly delaying a project or working overtime to complete a project is a sign of a CTO’s inability to manage a project.

In addition, excellent Ctos tend to pay attention to the training and research and development of echelon strength, and establish an organizational culture with centripetal force, openness and communication learning. This research and development team is not only extremely fighting, but also has a strong sense of belonging. Even if there is a loss of key positions, the right talent can be found from the R&D echelon.

Build a culture

The CTO also needs to look at the technology department and the culture of the organization as a whole. As a member of the top management, a CTO has the opportunity and responsibility to foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and pride. If the culture is technology-oriented, it aligns with the strategic plan of the organization and contributes to the success of the entire team. The sense of belonging driven by corporate culture can also retain talent and further attract the right talent to join the team.

CTO is not only a mirror for technical personnel to view their future development, but also a channel for the company to precipitate its own culture. Creating a good corporate culture is inseparable from the enthusiasm for team building and the leadership of new staff. As a CTO, there will be many opportunities to share your experience with colleagues and what you know about the business and industry.

Product awareness

CTO should not only understand technology, but also have a good sense of Internet products, and put forward overall ideas for product improvement and perfection from the logical and realizable perspective of products. Because product managers or business people envision products that are likely to be illogical or even difficult to implement. At this point, if the CTO does not intervene in research and development, after the product is actually developed, there are loopholes everywhere. It is also the duty of a CTO to understand Internet products, deduce the implementation logic of products, and revise and improve product ideas in general with his professional ability.

Technology is not the more advanced the better, but the better to meet the needs of customers. The choice of technology should be commensurate with the resources the company can invest, and the choice of appropriate technology, products and market positioning, development efficiency will be improved and risks will be reduced accordingly. The CTO has to balance that.

Ability to communicate

On the technical side, the CTO has the most complete information and therefore is responsible for communication and coordination within the company.

First, the CTO should maintain an open communication channel and relationship with the CEO. As for THE CEO’s ideas, CTO has the responsibility to help the CEO correct, deduce and improve his ideas from a more professional perspective.

Then there is the management of the senior management team. This includes COO, CMO, VP of Sales, VP of Marketing, HRD, etc. Ensure there is no strategic divergence between r&d and marketing operations. And then the communication with the r&d team. Including vice President of Technology, DIRECTOR of PMO, product, R&D, operation and maintenance. Make sure there are no departmental walls between them, wasting efficiency and resources.

Finally, communication with managers and core employees. Make sure they get the right information and decisions to do the right job.

Personality charm

A CTO’s role in an organization is often external, especially when interacting directly with customers. So it’s not just sales teams and account managers who need to be good communicators. Ctos should also have some “soft power” in social skills to deal with existing and potential clients. In addition to being approachable, empathetic, and aware of market and industry needs, Ctos must learn to explain complex technological concepts in simple terms so that others can understand them and how they relate to them.

There are certainly plenty of people on clients’ boards who don’t know much about the technology industry. As a CTO, you should work with the sales team to become a “big magnet” to attract customers to sign up for the most important events.

Preaching spirit

The CTO must be able to inspire people inside the company around its vision, while at the same time convincing people outside the company that this is the future of the world and that his or her company is best positioned to lead them there. CTO is the technical front and the representative of the technical image of an enterprise. Techie ctos are generally bad at deep conversations, which makes this ability all the more important. A publicly active CTO will seize every opportunity to speak, talk, interview, and publish to promote his business, products, and technological achievements. These Ctos have the opportunity to become industry inspiration “leaders,” which can be very helpful to the company and product promotion.

End

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