Happy CTO & CEO - Where’s the PM?
Jason Calacanis posted today about having a happy CEO and CTO relationship. While I don’t dispute Jason as being one of the best in the biz, and I would love to get to work with him at some point, I have to point out something that I feel is missing. Maybe intentionally.
But first, let me say this - I haven’t been in nearly as many start-ups as Jason, nor have I had the experience he has. Surely, take his word over mine. But, being a product manager, I feel I have something to add.
I’ve been very close to some “interesting” CEO and CTO relationships during my career thus far. Sure they could have either been salvaged, or not even allowed to get to that point, by following some of the advice Jason provides us throughout his blog post. And all of Jason’s points are totally bang on between the CTO being concerned about the system and the CEO being concerned about shiny / “wow” (I hate that term) appeal.
While these parties need to have an effective working relationship, if you insert a product management leader in to the mix, everything becomes a little different. You end-up (or should end-up) with someone that can see both sides of the equation. The CEO doesn’t want to have his head in a vice at the next board meeting for not getting the million-dollar feature out the door and closing the next million-dollar deal, while the CTO doesn’t want another night away from the family tending to nasty server downtimes at the remote data centre.
Can’t build a house on toothpicks…
Now, the interesting perspective the PM leader should bring is, “what does the market want and why?” Now, I’ve seen multiple times the “suits” not really giving a crap. They want it done, and want it done now. But is the reasoning in the best interest of themselves or the company? It sounds so cliche, but it’s true.
Now, if you have a CEO running around yelling at the CTO to just “get it done” because they say so, this is a poor structure, and sure to fail. Both CTO and CEO should understand what their roles are and involve a product manager (should the organizational structure support it — it should, and I’m bias).
If the CEO can’t stand-up to their boss(es) and explain where progress is being made, and yes - it’s a little pragmatic, but “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and all that business, the CEO should be questioned in his or her ability to lead. At least in my opinion.
Breathing down a product or a dev team’s neck just because a nasty board member with a penchant for yelling says, “who cares about the customer with the problem, I want my new Mercedes and my liquidation event” creates bad vibes and, probably, irreconcilable differences.
So, at the end this mini-rant: listen to Jason. CEOs and CTOs having a good relationship is critical to the business succeeding. If you have a product management leader in your organization, they should always be consulted for guidance relating to the market. More often than not, they are playing air traffic control, and should know what’s happening anyways.
I’m not advocating the PM replace either C-level officer, but they do have insight into feature priority and in software organizations, and they should have some level of technical expertise.
See it from both sides. Does what you’re freaking out about solve a real problem or pain? The concept sounds nice, but being market-driven usually fails in execution. Is the market in demand for the feature? Can it be solved in a technically feasible manner? All of these questions (and more) are reasonable reasons to say, “implement” and/or “kill it.”
So, great post Jason. I hope i don’t sound like a raving lunatic who dreams in market data and prioritizing features.
