If there is any part of your business that you really need to pay attention to, it's finding the right person for the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) position in your company. Of course, every employee is equally important and comes with different skills. However, a CTO often decides on critical technical aspects of your business and coordinates work across all departments. That's why it's essential to ensure that the person you choose is fit for that role. So, who is the ideal candidate for a CTO position? Let us share some thoughts based on our experience.

The Difference Between a CTO, a Good CTO, and a Great CTO

A CTO will help you build your website, managing the team of developers and ensuring that tasks are completed.

A good CTO will bring forward suggestions for new features on your website. They will be cooperative, managing the team more efficiently, which shortens the development time. This efficiency can save you 20% on development costs, such as salaries. A good Chief Technology Officer will also allocate time for analysis, reporting, and testing, ensuring your platform is fast, user-friendly, and secure.

So, what can a great CTO offer? A great CTO doesn't just focus on technology but takes a holistic view of your entire business. They analyze processes and tools across all departments and find ways to improve them. A great CTO prepares your company to be one step ahead of the competition. By reducing the time needed for daily operations and automating processes, they provide your team with more time to excel. They make the job easier for everyone, fostering a happier and more motivated team. By guiding your team to improve the efficiency of their work, a great CTO boosts their creativity and instills a drive for constant improvement. If you haven't realized the impact this can have on your business yet, keep reading.

The Qualities of a Great CTO

Team Building and Communication Skills

Team building and communication skills are at the top of our list. Team building isn't just about hiring new members; it's about everyday communication across all departments. It's easier said than done since a CTO often has strong technical knowledge and uses technical jargon that may not be easily understood by others. A great CTO needs to bridge the gap between programmers and "normal people" :) They must be able to see things from the customers' perspective, translate them into programmers' language, and vice versa. Good communication skills allow every team member to feel understood and comfortable at work, yielding the best results when implementing new technologies.

Problem-Solving Mindset

A problem-solving mindset is essential. Has it ever happened to you that instead of solving your problem, someone tried to convince you that it doesn't exist? Even with excellent communication skills, a great CTO must be willing to understand the problems faced by team members and find solutions. Technical individuals often defend the technology in use, attempting to persuade your team that everything is fine, but that doesn't truly solve the problem. It leaves your team feeling misunderstood and unsupported. A great CTO always listens, seeks to understand the situation, and avoids dismissing issues. During interviews, ask candidates what they would do if they couldn't understand a team member's problem. Personally, I have even swapped positions with an employee for a full day(!) to be trained in their role and understand their challenges. There hasn't been a single case where a problem couldn't be identified and resolved.

Willingness to Learn

Willingness to learn is vital. Your CTO will possess extensive technical knowledge, but relying solely on that knowledge is detrimental. Technology evolves daily, and what was true yesterday may not hold true today. A great CTO is always seeking advice and understands that the knowledge they acquired five minutes ago might already be outdated. Only by doing so can you ensure that decisions made by your CTO are based on thorough research and in the best interest of your company, rather than their ego.

Future-Oriented Thinking

Future-oriented thinking is crucial. Does it make sense to develop something knowing that it will need to be replaced in six months? Sometimes, if the development cost is lower than the potential profit. But in many cases, it's not logical. Redoing tasks repeatedly can cost a fortune, so every great CTO should ask themselves these two questions:

  • Will this solution be excellent in a few years, just like it is now?
  • If this solution won't be good enough in the future, can it be easily upgraded or reused?

If the answer to both of these questions is "no," a CTO should refrain from implementing the solution. You'd be surprised how often people fail to ask these questions and end up spending months developing software that becomes outdated upon release, with no possibility of future upgrades or reuse.

Optimization

Optimization is key. This skill can also be called "the ability to think logically and act." It should apply to everyone, but many times I have seen people develop software for two months that already existed and was available for $100. I have witnessed developers working on laptops with high-end graphic cards, companies purchasing expensive software when free open-source alternatives are available, and websites hosted on expensive VPS hosting when shared hosting would suffice. The lack of optimization in time and costs across departments leads to significant losses for the company. The CTO should constantly evaluate and seek ways to improve your company's functioning, saving unnecessary costs that can instead be invested in company growth.

A great CTO is one of the most important individuals in your company. They can help you coordinate work across all departments and introduce tools to facilitate it. They will enhance your team's efficiency and productivity every single day. Your CTO acts as a bridge between your customers, your team, and your programmers, ensuring you stay one step ahead of the competition.