Think Like a CTO - by Alan Williamson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An effective Chief Technology Officer shapes almost every aspect of a modern business. This book shares the experience and advice of veteran CTOs and industry experts for handling IT crises, leading tech teams, and creating an inspiring vision for your company.

In Think Like a CTO you will learn:

• Effective interaction and relationship-building with other C-level executives
• Creating long term visions and executing on short term goals
• Interviewing, hiring, and terminating team members
• Negotiating salaries and managing promotions
• Architecting future-proofed systems
• Handling security breaches and ransomware attacks
• Putting together budgets and working with your CFO
• Identifying and managing outsourced vendor opportunities
• Managing and communicating bad news by leading with data, not passion
• Being the kind of leader that employees want to follow and emulate

Becoming a CTO is an incredible accomplishment. It's also one of the hardest transitions a technologist can make. This high-power and high-pressure role demands skills that are rarely developed as a software engineer. Think Like a CTO shines a light on all the areas an aspiring CTO needs to master to succeed. You'll learn how to build incredible working relationships with the rest of the C-suite, transform a company with private equity, and recruit and manage your development team. With this book as your guide, you'll quickly become a trusted leader figure with an inspiring vision for your company.

Foreword by Ankit Mathur.

Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.

About the technology
The Chief Technology Officer balances business needs with the constantly evolving world of technology. Think Like a CTO helps you develop the skills and mindset you need to take on this critical role and emerge as a successful leader. Packed with insights from industry experts and veteran CTOs, this book shares practical strategies for navigating the high-stakes world of technology leadership.

About the book
Think Like a CTO shares hard-won lessons on how to thrive in the fast-paced role of Chief Technology Officer. Inside, you'll learn to establish successful technology platforms and teams, with practical frameworks for software selection and implementation, bias-free interviews and performance reviews, and earning your place at the table with other senior leaders. You'll appreciate the no-nonsense advice, insights, and war stories from CTO mentor Alan Williamson.

What's inside

• Building productive relationships with other C-level executives
• Negotiating salaries and managing promotions
• Architecting future-proof systems
• Handling security breaches and ransomware attacks

About the reader
For technology leaders working in or aspiring towards a CTO role.

About the author
Alan Williamson has advised numerous CTOs who were catapulted into the big leagues by private equity investment, acquisition, and rapid growth.

Table of Contents
1 The Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
2 Managing up
3 Visionary planning
4 Building a team
5 Interviewing, choosing, and onboarding
6 Team management
7 Annual reviews
8 Technology decisions
9 Development
10 Contract management
11 Documentation
12 Security
13 Housekeeping
14 Company growth
15 You, Inc.

From the Back Cover

Think Like a CTO is full of step-by-step guidance for succeeding as a Chief Technology Officer. Author Alan Williamson has mentored numerous CTOs who have been catapulted into the big leagues by private equity investment, acquisition, and rapid growth. In this book, he shares his hard-won lessons on how to survive and thrive in the fast-paced role. Inside you'll find practical frameworks for solving common challenges, including conducting bias-free interviewing, setting up meaningful performance reviews, and establishing teams built around a clear charter of responsibilities. Each chapter explores real scenarios CTOs face and includes the invaluable advice of veteran CTOs, recruitment specialists, and other industry experts. Harness the advice and tools in this book, and you'll soon be making data-driven decisions and putting your own brand of leadership on your CTO role.

About the Author

Alan Williamson is a Chief Technology Officer and partner of MacLaurin Group, a provider of operating partner services in technical and data analytics for private equity and investment companies. Alan supports portfolio company operations, having provided interim-CTO duties for Chicago Growth Partners and ParkerGale Capital. Alan served as full-time CTO at Royall & Company where he was responsible for the architecture, development and maintenance of all systems to support the needs and requirements of clients. With a deep background in high-volume server processing, Alan was the first UK Java Champion, a program by Oracle/Sun to recognize the Top 100 people who have contributed the most to Java.