The CTO role is equal parts technical architecture, team leadership, and business communication. This course covers the non-coding skills that make technical leaders effective — the skills no engineering course teaches.
This is a text-first course that links out to the best supporting material on the internet instead of trying to replace it. The goal is to make this the best course on cto skills you can find — even without producing a single minute of custom video.
This course is specifically for strong engineers who are taking on technical leadership roles and don't know yet what changes and what doesn't.
Every day provides a framework for making the decisions CTOs face repeatedly: build vs. buy, technical debt prioritization, hiring strategy.
The reality of CTO work — most of it is communication, recruiting, and prioritization decisions. This course doesn't pretend it's mostly architecture.
Each day is designed to finish in about an hour of focused reading plus reflection exercises. No live classes, no quizzes.
Each day stands alone. Read them in order for the full picture, or jump straight to the day that answers the question you have today.
ADRs (Architecture Decision Records), build vs. buy, technical debt prioritization, the 80% rule for technology choices. How to make architectural decisions that stand up.
Engineering team structure (pods, squads, platform vs product), hiring for culture, performance management, managing senior engineers.
Roadmapping, OKRs for engineering, stakeholder alignment, how to communicate technical strategy to non-technical audiences.
Evaluating vendors, contract negotiation, managing critical vendor relationships, and the build vs. buy decision for infrastructure and tooling.
Translating technical decisions into business outcomes, reporting to the board, managing up, and communicating during incidents.
Instead of shooting our own videos, we link to the best deep-dives already on YouTube. Watch them alongside the course. All external, all free, all from builders who ship this stuff.
Experienced CTOs sharing what the role actually requires — beyond technical skills to people management and strategy.
How to make and document software architecture decisions — ADRs, tradeoff analysis, and communicating technical choices.
How to structure engineering organizations — squad models, platform vs product teams, and scaling engineering teams.
How technical leaders communicate with boards and executives — translating technical decisions into business language.
Building engineering roadmaps, aligning technical strategy with business goals, and communicating priorities.
What to do in the first 90 days of a CTO role — assessment, trust-building, and making your first decisions count.
The best way to go deeper on any topic is to read canonical open-source implementations. These repositories implement the core patterns covered in this course.
Curated resources on engineering management — books, articles, and tools for technical leaders.
Templates and examples for Architecture Decision Records — the documentation practice Day 1 covers.
Resources specifically curated for CTOs — strategy, team management, and technical leadership.
Example engineering career ladders and leveling frameworks — directly relevant to the team structure and performance management topics.
You're becoming a team lead or staff engineer and want to understand the leadership and communication skills the role requires.
You just took on your first CTO or VP role. This course covers the non-technical skills that will determine whether you succeed.
You founded a company and are serving as the CTO. This course helps you understand what to hire for and what to keep doing yourself.
The 2-day in-person Precision AI Academy bootcamp covers AI strategy, technical leadership, and engineering management — hands-on with Bo. 5 U.S. cities. $1,490. 40 seats max. June–October 2026 (Thu–Fri).
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