CTO是什么？

CTO是什么？初创企业CTO是什么？

CTO， Chief Technology Officer，是首席技术官。一般而言是一家公司技术方面的最高负责人。

CTO这一头衔最早出现在二战后期，当时的知名大型企业对科研越来越重视，开始成立独立的技术研究部门，来聘请科学家和技术专家来领导，负责科研到产品的转化。这些独立部门的负责人头衔就是CTO。随后数十年，随着技术在企业发展中的重要程度和规模的不断上升，越来越多的企业设立了CTO这个岗位，用以称呼企业内技术最高负责人。

过去二十年，随着互联网产业的爆发，各行业的发展变得更加依赖于信息技术————软件、App、数据、智能硬件等产品取代了传统概念上的产品，也因此使得研究人员、程序员和工程师代替了传统的工人，成为了产品的生产者，这也使得各行业对技术负责人的需求激增。

而在国内，大批的初创公司和新业务团队不断涌现，其中大多需要通过核心产品的研发来验证商业模式，就更需要聘任一位CTO。

这样的初创公司CTO，头衔虽高，工作要求虽根据公司情况各不相同，但共同点是工作很杂很宽泛。在创业初期，CTO就是一个技术大总管，应担负起和技术有关的全部工作，包括组织研发生产，拟定技术战略，管理技术团队等等。根据公司的具体情况，还可能向上下游拓展，同时照顾产品，IT设施，数据，设计，增长等方方面面工作。成为一个通过经验、资源、创造性手段、管理能力来解决初创公司技术和技术衍生问题的杂家。

共同点

负全责，本质是个C
懂技术，本质是个T
懂管理，本质是个O

不同点

大小公司区别很大
不同性质的公司区别很大
不同阶段的公司区别也很大

（稍后会讲）

初创呢？顺势简单提一点儿

“As a startup CTO I wore the following hats; Enterprise architect, SCRUM master, developer, lead quality assurer, social media manager, blogger, [and so forth].”

(当然创业公司干得更多更粗放)，初创公司，当公司里没有人比你懂技术时，任何与技术有关系的问题，你都是最终解决人。

“An executive-level position in a company or other entity whose occupation is focused on scientific and technological issues within an organization.” --Roger D. Smith

Managing Roadmaps, Tasks & Deadlines: The strategy and design that a CTO develops with his team often becomes little more than a huge to-do list. A good CTO will have the product and project management skills to attack that list.

Getting Your Hands Dirty: A competent CTO rises to challenges and gets his or her hands dirty, proving that they can contribute as well as dish out orders. Speaking of which...

Delegation: As mentioned in the previous point, a CTO should be working on the frontlines — however, it still holds true that the only way all of that listed work will get done is if the people beneath the CTO pull their weight. To make sure that happens, a CTO needs to know when to hand something off to a colleague.

“Delegation [is definitely part of the job], and it’s a personal challenge for me. For example, I can spend a whole weekend just making sure some specific UX is seamless, although that’s not the most valuable thing I could spend my time on.”

技术部分

Getting Your Hands Dirty: A competent CTO rises to challenges and gets his or her hands dirty, proving that they can contribute as well as dish out orders. Speaking of which...

Technology Strategy: Contemporary companies work in a digitally volatile space, and it’s the CTO’s job to ensure that the company has the best technology for the job(s) at hand. That includes recommending the right CMS to handle content distribution across existing and emerging channels.

Business Strategy: A CTO needs to have a voice in the company strategy — especially since most (if not all) business strategies today rely heavily upon technology to exist, reach consumers and scale. More specifically, it’s upon the CTO to think up ways for his CEO and stakeholders to fulfil their goals. If they can do that well, the CTO ends up at the forefront of innovative projects.

Evangelism: Finally, the CTO is also a public face of technology for the company. They need to tend to the internal wellbeing of the company’s tech and be the driving force behind the brand’s technical prowess and insight. The CTO needs to represent that prowess in public appearances, in front of the press, and at conferences.

“I believe that CTO should be involved in business development in a technical way. It means CTO should always think not only about how to develop a certain product but also about how certain technologies can gain additional profits, and/or reduce costs.”