CTO

Scaling Engineering @ Trustly

Trustly has seen significant growth in Europe and North America over the past year, with North America now representing close to half of total group revenue. In response, the Engineering team has doubled in size, expanding to 109 full-time employees across Brazil, Portugal, and the US. The team has evolved their road mapping and planning processes, and formalized the idea of a Technology Tribe to dedicate Engineering resources for Scalability, Reliability, Security, and Resiliency. The team looks forward to continued growth and evolution in 2022.

Creating Focused Paths for Growth

In response to feedback from team members, the organization created three paths for career growth: a technical lead path, an architect path, and a manager path. This was supported by the TILES framework and a strategy document, as well as an engineering health framework. The implementation of these paths was adjusted to provide a softer transition for those crossing over to a manager role, and to separate tech leads from HR duties.

Completing a Successful Reorganization within a Well-Established Company

As CTO of a well-established organization, I was tasked with reorganizing the company to provide better cybersecurity and data security tools. I ran an audit to understand the company’s situation, implemented a platform approach, aligned job descriptions, and collaborated with leadership and teams. I also held a town hall meeting to discuss the reorganization and put in place KPIs to follow up with my team. The keys for a successful reorganization are to focus on processes, objectives, and pains, and to provide empathy during conversations.

Growing With An Organization

This article discusses the difficulty of transitioning from an individual contributor to a manager. It explains that as a company grows, roles and responsibilities need to change and be delegated in order for the company to be successful. The article emphasizes the importance of recognizing why different roles are important and being willing to let go of certain roles and responsibilities as the company grows.

To Contractor or not to contractor? Pros and cons of putting off full time hiring.

Rogue Rocket was founded in 2011 with the goal of staying lean and hiring staff on a project-needs basis. They used contractors to fill positions and minimize cash flow risk, and eventually made a few full-time hires. The strategy was to create great products and maximize quality and creativity, but this may not be a wise choice in the current business environment due to the shortage of skilled technical personnel. Companies must decide on the best strategy for their needs.

Be Upfront About Product Delivery Constraints

The CTO of Paypal Credit was under pressure to scale a successful proof of concept product, but needed to replatform, restructure and rewrite it first. He had a one-on-one with the business owner to explain the situation and then went to the President of the business unit to get permission to spend nine months on the replatforming. Despite engineers not liking the fixed timeframe, the product launch was successful and the business leader was very complimentary. The CTO learned to start conversations with business leaders earlier to avoid difficult conversations.