Points 5 and 7 resonate with me perfectly. I’ve never been burnt out or frustrated as a CTO mostly because I never say yes to an opportunity I don’t immediately the value I add and over what timeframe within an agreed autonomous budget allocation. My fear is too many CTO’s accept roles without any leverage the moment they walk in the door. Most CTO’s are just not commercial enough and prefer to be left in the codebase firefighting EXCO changing priorities. Obviously I am generalising but it’s my experience and I wish it was different for our excellent colleagues. Far smarter than me in most cases. But allow themselves to be a push over at times. 😢