I’ve heard CTOs described as Product-focused versus Tech-focused, and I’ve heard people described as strategic versus operational, but I wonder if these are false dichotomies. I wonder if a better scale may be Product vs Operational — or to put it another way — CTOs that excel more at considering what to build versus CTOs that excel more at considering how to help many different people build it.
Executives at either end of that spectrum can be strategic or tactical at different times. It’s a common misconception that operational CTOs are weak strategically, when in fact it seems impossible to implement long-term vision of operational excellence without having a strategy to guide decision-making. Likewise it’s a common misconception that Product-focused CTOs are weak technically. Some of the most gifted Product people I’ve known were also very strong implementers.
However, I’ve known hundreds of CTOs and I don’t think I’ve ever found a strong Product-focused CTO who also excelled operationally at scale, and likewise I don’t think I’ve ever known a strong operational executive who excelled in Product creation. I’ve known many people who have done both, but in all cases they were either excellent at only one of them or neither.