Lessons learned from becoming CTO of a small startup

The post describes what changes when a software engineer moves into a CTO or other technical management role at a small company. It focuses on the loss of time for solo work, the need to communicate more, and the responsibility for outcomes beyond one’s own team. It also frames management as a role that changes how you relate to teammates, decisions, and company priorities.

Reading notes

#

• When moving from developer to manager inside the same team, you need to keep your credibility as a developer, or the team may distrust your decisions.
• Friendship with teammates becomes harder once you are their boss, because people may see bias and because you will sometimes need to have unpleasant conversations.
• In management, the habit of doing everything yourself has to go. Delegation matters because time is limited and other tasks are more critical.
• You also have to stop acting like the person who knows every answer. The useful part is connecting people to the right answer or to someone who has it.
• Solo work gives way to constant communication with developers, directors, and other stakeholders, while also protecting developers from outside interruptions.
• Responsibility expands beyond your own module or department, so blockers caused by other teams or third parties become your problem too.
• Communication is presented as a core management skill, along with hiring, supporting people, and helping them work better.
• Stress increases because negative issues reach you first and multiple stakeholders compete for attention.
• Management requires weighing trade-offs in decisions such as refactoring, rewriting systems, or handling personnel choices.
• Staying effective means continuing to learn, adapting to new tools and methods, and accepting that you will sometimes be wrong.
• Technical leaders also need to care about standards, documentation, workflow, technical debt, and testing.
• The post also lists benefits of management, including meeting interesting people, influencing company direction, and learning many new things.