Having served as a Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO) at scale-ups 3 times already thus far, I was excited to converse with Elliot Kipling from Enginears about the value of this role, especially at this stage of a company.
The benefits below are fundamental for scale-ups due to the size of the bets that scale-ups make qua investments, the need for speed of growth while dealing with inevitable complexity of all the newity of this stage compound with any debt accumulated to get to it.
Below the key take-aways from this interesting discussion, which explored much more than what the title (or the below points) expose. 😉
1. Empowerment through Cross-Functional Teams
Empowered teams are structured to be cross-functional, which enhances their ability to make swift decisions and increases transparency.
This setup ensures that investments are more strategic and outcomes are delivered more efficiently.
2. Deep Strategic Collaboration between Product and Engineering
By fostering deep strategic collaboration between Product and Engineering teams, the CPTO ensures that both functions are aligned in their goals and conversations are elevated. This alignment leads to a more cohesive strategy and better execution of the company’s vision.
3. Outcome-Based Approach with consolidated journey from Discovery to Execution
Shifting the organizational mindset from focusing on projects to focusing on outcomes encourages teams to work towards specific, measurable results. This results-oriented approach drives the company towards achieving its strategic objectives more effectively.
4. Engineer Involvement in Product Decision-Making
Including software engineers in the decision-making process allows them to contribute their technical expertise and gain a better understanding of the business context of their work. This leads to more informed product decisions, saves time, increases motivation and team effectiveness. The result is stronger alignment between technical development and business goals.
5. Increased Customer Focus with Better Solutions
A diverse range of inputs in decision-making processes ensures that products are designed to better meet customer needs. Engineers, with their technical insights, play a crucial role in developing solutions that are user-centric, innovative but also planned and delivered with pragmatism.
6. Continuous Discovery
CPTO’s extensive mandate, helps cross functional teams adopt continuous discovery practices, constantly gathering evidence and learning from experiments. This knowledge is democratised within the organisation ensuring that the product evolves in line with customer needs and market demands, maintaining relevance and competitive edge.
7. Addressing Organizational Resistance
Some organizations may resist adopting a CPTO structure due to a comfort with traditional ownership models and a lack of understanding of its benefits. Highlighting the successes and strategic advantages of a CPTO can help in overcoming these resistance points, demonstrating the long-term value and positive transformation this role brings.
8. Transitioning to become a CPTO
Understanding the transformative value of transitioning from “doing” to “being” is crucial for ascending to a C-level position. The discussion emphasized the importance of learning the language of business and finance to effectively communicate and defend strategies at the board level as a CPTO.
Link to the podcast “The value of the CPTO at scale-ups with Dimitra Retsina”
- 00:00 – Enginears Intro.
- 00:33 – Background into Dimitra.
- 03:37 – Where has the CPTO role emerged from?
- 05:51 – How can the structure of an organisation change with the introduction of a CPTO?
- 08:13 – How does implementing “Winning by design” benefit the organisation?
- 10:32 – Where is the role of a CPTO most prevalent?
- 12:31 – How does having a CPTO change the role and mindset of a software engineer?
- 13:34 – How do you approach this role when entering a new business?
- 15:31 – How does upskilling your engineers through a CPTO positively impact users and customers?
- 18:27 – Why aren’t organisations adopting organisational change by introducing a CPTO?
- 21:41 – Where does product sit within an organisation?
- 23:01 – What are some golden nuggets for people to achieve a C-Level role? 25:12 –
- How did Dimitra learn financial modelling?
- 31:29 – Outro.
