People

A Chief Technology Officer (CTO) must have strong people-related knowledge and skills to lead teams, align technology with business goals, and foster innovation. Their understanding of people should cover these key pillars:

• Talent Acquisition: Designing recruitment pipelines, interview standards, onboarding/induction plans, and offboarding practices.
• Performance & Growth: Fostering career progression, designing engineering ladders, professional development plans, and constructive performance reviews.
• Leadership & Collaboration: Mastering situational leadership, effective asynchronous communication, meeting hygiene, and psychological safety.
• Culture & Organisation: Building blameless post-mortem practices, community of practice networks, aligning org structure with architecture (Team Topologies), and managing Conway's Law.
• Psychology & Behaviours: Recognising cognitive biases, understanding team-level dynamics, and supporting neurodiversity and generational integration.

A great CTO doesn’t just manage technology, they lead, inspire, and empower people to build impactful products and drive the company’s success.