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While I do not have anything to add in the sence that I have never been a CTO, I would like to say that while you probably should have known some things going i

While I do not have anything to add in the sence that I have never been a CTO, I would like to say that while you probably should have known some things going into this, I appreciate/admire your honesty regarding your shortcomings. I think that is an admirable trait that many lack. Always be honest with yourself and others with respect to your knowledge/understanding. I assume you work for a small company/start up. Have you talked with your CEO about what he expects from you regarding timelines and progress estimates?

kls 15y ago
I would like to say that while you probably should have known some things going into this I have been a CTO at 3 companies and a VP at a few others. I am astonished at the amount of companies now hiring CTO's that do not come from the technical ranks or worse yet calling the wrong job the CTO. The CTO position is about being the chief technologist, the CIO or the VP of technology is a more appropriate title for the tasks that where outlined above. That being said, given your candor I an assuming that you where elevated into this position, forgive me if I am wrong on that, but as such it will be a learning process. The first CTO position is the hardest and if you did not come from development or a technical position, then you are going to be at a deficit given the fact that you are in charge of the technical vision of the company. You have to decide Open Source or Oracle, .Net or Java or Ruby do we start our own social branch on our site or do we use Facebook, build or buy, etc. etc. These are the responsibilities of a CTO and a good grounding in how the stuff is built helps in formulating those decisions. My advice, if you are not technical, would be to find a strong developer in your team whose opinion you can trust and consult him on these type of decisions.

kls 15y ago

I would like to say that while you probably should have known some things going into this I have been a CTO at 3 companies and a VP at a few others. I am astonished at the amount of companies now hiring CTO's that do not come from the technical ranks or worse yet calling the wrong job the CTO. The CTO position is about being the chief technologist, the CIO or the VP of technology is a more appropriate title for the tasks that where outlined above. That being said, given your candor I an assuming that you where elevated into this position, forgive me if I am wrong on that, but as such it will be a learning process. The first CTO position is the hardest and if you did not come from development or a technical position, then you are going to be at a deficit given the fact that you are in charge of the technical vision of the company. You have to decide Open Source or Oracle, .Net or Java or Ruby do we start our own social branch on our site or do we use Facebook, build or buy, etc. etc. These are the responsibilities of a CTO and a good grounding in how the stuff is built helps in formulating those decisions. My advice, if you are not technical, would be to find a strong developer in your team whose opinion you can trust and consult him on these type of decisions.