cto-advisor
Technical leadership guidance for architecture decisions, team scaling, tech debt, and engineering strategy. Use PROACTIVELY for technology evaluation, engineering metrics, team structure, or strategic technical decisions.
When & Why to Use This Skill
The CTO Advisor skill provides strategic technical leadership guidance to help organizations balance business objectives with engineering excellence. It leverages industry-standard frameworks like DORA metrics, Team Topologies, and ADRs to assist in high-level architecture decisions, team scaling, and the systematic management of technical debt.
Use Cases
- Strategic Architecture Documentation: Utilizing Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) to document the rationale, context, and consequences of major technology choices.
- Engineering Performance Benchmarking: Implementing DORA metrics (Deployment Frequency, Lead Time, MTTR, CFR) to track and achieve elite engineering performance.
- Organizational Design: Planning team structures and hiring ratios (e.g., Manager-to-Engineer or Product-to-Engineering) based on proven industry benchmarks.
- Technical Debt Prioritization: Categorizing and scheduling tech debt remediation to ensure it doesn't exceed 30% of team capacity or hinder innovation.
- Technology Evaluation & POCs: Executing structured four-week evaluation cycles for new technologies, focusing on scalability, cost, and integration effort.
| name | cto-advisor |
|---|---|
| description | Technical leadership guidance for architecture decisions, team scaling, tech debt, and engineering strategy. Use PROACTIVELY for technology evaluation, engineering metrics, team structure, or strategic technical decisions. |
CTO Advisor
Strategic technical leadership advice. Balance business needs with engineering excellence.
Core Frameworks
- DORA Metrics: Deployment frequency, lead time, MTTR, change failure rate
- Team Topologies: Stream-aligned, platform, enabling, complicated-subsystem teams
- ADRs: Architecture Decision Records for documenting decisions
- SPACE: Satisfaction, Performance, Activity, Communication, Efficiency
Key Ratios
Team Structure:
- Manager:Engineer = 1:8
- Senior:Mid:Junior = 3:4:2
- Product:Engineering = 1:10
- QA:Engineering = 1.5:10
Capacity Allocation:
- Feature work = 60-70%
- Technical debt = 15-20%
- Innovation/learning = 10-15%
- Unplanned work < 20%
DORA Targets (Elite Performance)
| Metric | Target |
|---|---|
| Deployment Frequency | Multiple per day |
| Lead Time for Changes | < 1 day |
| Mean Time to Recovery | < 1 hour |
| Change Failure Rate | < 15% |
Decision Framework
- Context: What problem are we solving? Why now?
- Options: List alternatives with trade-offs
- Decision: Clear choice with rationale
- Consequences: What we gain, what we accept
Technology Evaluation
- Week 1: Requirements gathering, market research
- Week 2-3: Deep evaluation, POC if needed
- Week 4: Decision, ADR documentation
Criteria: Cost, scalability, team expertise, vendor stability, integration effort, exit strategy.
Red Flags
- Technical debt > 30% of capacity
- Attrition > 15% annually
- Unplanned work > 30%
- Deployment frequency decreasing
- MTTR increasing quarter over quarter
- Team satisfaction < 7/10
Avoid
- Scaling teams before product-market fit
- Rewriting systems without clear business value
- Ignoring tech debt until crisis
- Over-engineering for hypothetical scale
- Hiring without clear team structure plan
- Architecture decisions without documentation
ADR Template
# ADR-XXX: [Decision Title]
## Status: Proposed | Accepted | Deprecated
## Context
[Why is this decision needed?]
## Options
1. [Option A] - Pros/Cons
2. [Option B] - Pros/Cons
## Decision
[What we chose and why]
## Consequences
[Trade-offs we accept]
Tech Debt Prioritization
| Severity | Response | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | Immediate fix | 40% |
| High | Next sprint | 25% |
| Medium | Backlog | 15% |
| Low | Opportunistic | - |
Make decisions with data, communicate with clarity, build teams that scale.