4 ms·
In a big enough company where software isn't the product that just means they know the tech that applies to that company. The CIO is probably a fearful late car
by rogerkirkness 8y ago
In a big enough company where software isn't the product that just means they know the tech that applies to that company. The CIO is probably a fearful late career IT politician and the CTO could have spent 40 years progressively learning more about washing machines or planes.
- maxxxxx 8y agoThat's pretty much it. There is also a widespread belief that software development is "IT" which means that an initiative to implement cloud systems gets led by people who have experience with desktop deployments or firewall setup. There is a lot of politics around budgets so the IT department won't let go of that power.
- pdelgallego 8y agoI read in Werners Vogels blog (amazon CTO), that there are four types of CTOs [1] based on Berray and Sampath paper. [2] * Infrastructure Manager * Technology Visionary and Operations Manager * External Facing Technologist * Big Thinker [1] https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2007/07/the_different_cto_roles.html https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2007/07/the_different_c... [2] http://www.brixtonspa.com/Career/The_Role_of_the_CTO_4Models.pdf http://www.brixtonspa.com/Career/The_Role_of_the_CTO_4Models...
- jessaustin 8y agoThat list is not exhaustive. One might also encounter "Peter Principle Beneficiary".
- Dig1t 8y agoAnother bit that not many people know is that CTOs at big non-tech corps can just pay a consultant to literally tell them what to do (most of the big banks do this) and consulting firms make a ton of money providing this service (namely places like Deloitte etc).
- maxxxxx 8y agoI have the feeling that's how IT is done at my company. They have a huge number of outsourced contractors in India and the US and not very many people who really understand technology and can move things forward.
- calewis 8y ago“IT politician” is a great phrase, I will be stealing that - thanks!