- Genius
- Administrator
- Director
- Executive
- Advocate
I'll precis my reading of these roles and I propose an extension to these shapes in the form of a CTO "Shape". On reading Robert's paper I was struck by the number of CTO's I've had the pleasure of working with in the past who operated in one or more of Robert's patterns. By combining a rating for each of the patterns you can create a shape of the CTO which should help you structure any proposals (or pitches).
The Patterns
A Genius CTO (I would prefer the term Champion) would normally be found in a new company or business unit where there is a "research" product being commercialised. A Genius CTO or the organisation would have the following characteristics:
- Technology Revolution
- Visionary
- Belief in Product
- Unique Product
- Maturing Product
The Genius CTO was typical of the .com boom.
An Administrator CTO (may be called IT Director) is typical of the public section and will normally have the following characteristics:
- Defends the corporate budgets on IT spend
- Supplier negotiation / management
- Separates marketing claims from technical reality
- Looks to reduce IT spend for same service level
- Appreciates the technical aspects as well as administrative
A Director CTO (may be called director of R&D) would typically have these characteristics:
- Looks to build an environment for others to deliver
- Talent for organisation
- Manages exceptional people
- Bridges research and strategy within an organisation
- Accountable for research contribution to the bottom line
- Separates ideas with great commercial potential from those that are technically challenging but do not contribute to the bottom line
- Matches research plans with those of the broader business strategy
An Executive CTO would typically have these characteristics:
- Large organisation
- Integrated into the executive board and relied upon to manage and direct the company
- Fosters the exchange of information between research, manufacturing and service
- Measures innovation & research against contribution to companies revenue and its competitive advantage
An Advocate CTO (may be the CIO) would typically have these characteristics:
- Focused on how the customer perceives the organisation
- Looks at how the customer interfaces with the organisation
- Typical of retail, service or public sectors
- Does not look to create new technologies, focus on selecting technologies to combine to deliver business capability
The Shape
By scoring selected CTO's I'd worked with in the past against each pattern you can determine the shape of the CTO.
Once the shape of the CTO is identified, the shape should assist you in understanding their agendas and where they are most likely to be sensitive to your pitch.
2 comments:
I like the classifications and shapes. However the picture for SI's appears to be changing. Today on/offshore players have trouble differentiating. They have become commodities constantly battling a cost arbitrage play from customers and prospects.
What I am seeing now is the "Ok you are an on/offshore player. Why are you different? What does that mean for me? What is your X-Factor?" Which suggests the genius scoring is on the move upwards.
Hi Steve,
I agree - differentiation amongst SI's is very difficult and often why incumbents are so difficult to displace.
Understanding your value proposition for a prospect is critical to make sure you are aligned. Research on the prospect will also indicate whether they're coming from a position of financial weakness - so the cheapest will often win - or a position of financial strength so the value proposition becomes more important.
Being able to write software / deliver excellent service is no longer enough. Demonstration of a deep understanding of the customer business is key and why, I suspect, we will see SI's becoming more vertically focused over the coming years.
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