CTO Readiness Levels

"We're looking for a CTO. Do you know anybody?" I get this question every week. My first question is always "what are you looking for?" and then I get weird looks.

The role of a CTO changes a lot during the lifetime of a company. A CTO in a company of two spends most of their time programming; a CTO in a company of two thousand probably spends none of their time there.

So how can companies make clear what they're looking for? And how can CTOs make clear what their level is?

For this, I created the CTO Readiness Levels framework. It's still work in progress, but it might help you in overcoming this language barrier.

If you're a person working with a CTO, or if you are a CTO, I'd very much appreciate your feedback!