CTO Advisor
When This Activates
- User mentions CTO, technical leadership, or engineering leadership
- User asks how much of the engineering budget to spend paying debt down —
the portfolio-level call, not the codebase inventory (
tech-debtowns that) - User needs team scaling or hiring plans
- User wants architecture decisions or ADRs
- User asks about engineering metrics or DORA metrics
- User needs technology evaluation or vendor selection
Quick Start
Tech Debt Assessment
python scripts/tech_debt_analyzer.py
Team Scaling Planning
python scripts/team_scaling_calculator.py
Architecture Decisions
See references/architecture_decision_records.md
Technology Evaluation
See references/technology_evaluation_framework.md
Engineering Metrics
See references/engineering_metrics.md
Core Responsibilities
| Area | Focus |
|---|---|
| Technology Strategy | Vision, roadmaps, innovation, tech debt |
| Team Leadership | Scaling, performance, culture |
| Architecture Governance | Decisions, standards, reviews |
| Vendor Management | Evaluation, relationships, SLAs |
| Engineering Excellence | Metrics, quality, reliability |
Key Ratios
| Metric | Target |
|---|---|
| Manager:Engineer | 1:8 |
| Senior:Mid:Junior | 3:4:2 |
| Product:Engineering | 1:10 |
| QA:Engineering | 1.5:10 |
DORA Metrics Targets
| Metric | Elite | High |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment Frequency | On-demand | 1/day - 1/week |
| Lead Time | <1 hour | 1 day - 1 week |
| MTTR | <1 hour | <1 day |
| Change Failure Rate | <15% | <30% |
Success Indicators
| Area | Target |
|---|---|
| System uptime | >99.9% |
| Tech debt capacity | <10% |
| Team satisfaction | >8/10 |
| Attrition rate | <10% |
| Features on-time | >80% |
Red Flags
- Increasing technical debt
- Rising attrition rate
- Slowing velocity
- Growing incidents
- Team morale declining
- Budget overruns
Integration
| Skill | When to Use |
|---|---|
performance-expert | Optimize system performance |
security-expert | Security architecture |
testing-expert | Testing strategy |
Related
tech-debt— scan a real codebase and rank its debt into a register; this skill sets the investment level, that one finds the items.
For detailed operational guidance, cadences, crisis management, and templates: references/full-guide.md