{"id":4269999,"date":"2021-01-07T16:15:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-07T14:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dept.global\/insight\/5-conversations-every-ceo-cto-should-have\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T13:44:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T11:44:25","slug":"5-conversations-every-ceo-cto-should-have","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.dept.global\/en-au\/insight\/5-conversations-every-ceo-cto-should-have\/","title":{"rendered":"5 conversations every CEO & CTO should have"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\n\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tBack to all articles\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n<\/a>\n\t\t5 conversations every CEO & CTO should have\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/picture>\n\t\n\t<\/div>
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\n\t\tAshley Streb\t\t
\n\t\tChief Client Officer, DEPT\u00ae Americas\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t
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\n\t\t\tWhile CEOs have guided companies for decades, the abundance of technology has driven the need for a new executive leader: the CTO.\t<\/h3><\/div><\/div>\n\n

As CTOs become more essential for driving the business forward, the CEO-and-CTO relationship needs to be collaborative and equitable.

Our CEO and I, as CTO, have worked in a number of\u00a0product organizations\u00a0over the years and in 2015, we switched gears and began serving product teams. Since then, we\u2019ve seen firsthand how CEO\u00a0and\u00a0CTO leadership affects the success of a product.

Based on these experiences,\u00a0here are\u00a0top scenarios where CEOs and CTOs should be on the same page. For most of these conversations, a balance between technology and business is key.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\n\t\t\n\t\tHow Does Our Technical Debt Affect Our Agility?\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\tTechnical debt\u00a0is never a fun conversation to have. However, it becomes even less enjoyable when you realize that your product\u00a0or\u00a0engineering team has accumulated a lot of technical debt in the name of new features.

A CEO is likely to care more about creating ROI-positive product features. A CTO will want to create a bank of time devoted to technical debt. Therefore, this conversation needs to find a balance between the two so you maximize revenue and keep technical debt at appropriate levels.

There\u2019s the right time to accumulate tech debt to move quickly and there\u2019s the right time to pay that debt down (refactor). If you do only one or the other too often, you\u2019ll fail.\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t