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How are you the CTO and a developer? If you're coding features as the CTO your company must be really small so it doesn't really matter if the code isn't 'perfe

How are you the CTO and a developer? If you're coding features as the CTO your company must be really small so it doesn't really matter if the code isn't 'perfect'. If the company is big enough where people have the time to call you out on shitty code and think they can do better - awesome! Let them code it, and you can focus on technical direction. Tell them what to do. Delegate. Let them write the code - it's what you're paying them for. You can put your developer hat on at home and write code that automates the garage door at your new mansion.

myohmy 5y ago
This hits the nail on the head. I'm at the bottom of our management tier so I am still expected to do some programming. I feel schizophrenic at times because the mindset required for management and programming are very different. The demands are also very different. I joke that if I only do programming in the 15 minutes between emails/team messages/calls/meetings/etc. The reality is that if I can't solve the problem in 15 minutes then I have to delegate it. Anything else is my ego getting in the way of getting the problem solved.
faldore 5y ago
It is a young startup; the technical cofounder needs to code, there is nobody else to do it yet.
ghiculescu 5y ago
This and the comment below are super broad advice that you absolutely don't need to listen to. I'm the CTO at 100+ person company and write code about 50% of the time. Do the work you enjoy most. As long as customers are happy and you keep finding more of them, the rest will work itself out.
- aprdm 5y ago
  100+ person but how many devs? It doesn't feel reasonable for a CTO to be coding 50% of their time. Coding is usually the lowest impact / ROI activity one can have after having a couple of folks under them.
- freewilly1040 5y ago
  Are you sure your time is really best spent coding? Just because you are able to do it doesn’t mean it’s the best thing for your subordinates or company.
- optymizer 5y ago
  I can interpret your comment as "I'm a CTO who prefers to spend 50% of their time doing other things because they make me happy". It could be that your code and happiness level benefit the company more than CTO duties, but to me this situation seems like it would be suboptimal for most companies.

myohmy 5y ago

This hits the nail on the head. I'm at the bottom of our management tier so I am still expected to do some programming. I feel schizophrenic at times because the mindset required for management and programming are very different. The demands are also very different. I joke that if I only do programming in the 15 minutes between emails/team messages/calls/meetings/etc. The reality is that if I can't solve the problem in 15 minutes then I have to delegate it. Anything else is my ego getting in the way of getting the problem solved.

faldore 5y ago

It is a young startup; the technical cofounder needs to code, there is nobody else to do it yet.

ghiculescu 5y ago

This and the comment below are super broad advice that you absolutely don't need to listen to. I'm the CTO at 100+ person company and write code about 50% of the time. Do the work you enjoy most. As long as customers are happy and you keep finding more of them, the rest will work itself out.

aprdm 5y ago
100+ person but how many devs? It doesn't feel reasonable for a CTO to be coding 50% of their time. Coding is usually the lowest impact / ROI activity one can have after having a couple of folks under them.
freewilly1040 5y ago
Are you sure your time is really best spent coding? Just because you are able to do it doesn’t mean it’s the best thing for your subordinates or company.
optymizer 5y ago
I can interpret your comment as "I'm a CTO who prefers to spend 50% of their time doing other things because they make me happy". It could be that your code and happiness level benefit the company more than CTO duties, but to me this situation seems like it would be suboptimal for most companies.