What’s Your Most Important Tool as a CTO?

I was asked by a client recently: “What tools do you use every day, as a CTO?” The obvious answers lie in the actual tools I use for planning, communicating, budgeting, documenting, or, in modern days, which specific AI I’m using and for what purpose.

I thought about this question and how much tools actually matter. In my reality, they don’t. I don’t care what teams are using to plan, where documentation is stored, where communication happens, what tool is used for video meetings, etc. Sure, I have some preferences, but the reality is, whether or not you succeed doesn’t come down to the specific tools or technology you use.

But there still is a tool I use every day: a text editor. Again, in the generalised sense. Doesn’t matter which one. Okay, I’d rather it not be Word, but in the end, it’s about a window with a blinking cursor where I’m typing out words and, by extension, my thoughts.

Which is really when the answer hit me. The answer isn’t a specific tool or technique. The answer lies in the simplest thing: the written word.

The written word is my most useful and powerful tool as a CTO. Words that I write. And in turn, words that others write. Not with an AI, but with their own ways of typing, into their own text editor window.

For me personally, writing is my way of thinking. It allows me to explore an idea, collect data and other sources, explore the idea further, discard an idea, start over, and eventually turn an idea into something concrete. That concrete artifact may be a document serving as a starting point for a discussion or decision. Or it may be a paragraph of feedback on someone else’s work. Or it may be a weekly communication to my team. Or the summary of a meeting. Or the plan for the next quarter or the strategy for the next eighteen months.

Where and how it’s shared doesn’t matter. Well, at least as long as that place provides a sense of permanence, meaning that it stores the artifact so that others can go back to it and read it.

In my coaching work, I may transcribe meetings so that I can go back to the flow of conversation and maybe find a nugget here and there. But for me, the nuggets emerge as part of the conversation and aren’t easily pointed to. It may be a train of thought I need to explore further. Or the context of a specific line isn’t clear enough. Which is why I always keep a notebook and pen next to me during meetings. Some trains of thought simply aren’t caught by a simple transcription. Or the AI summary simply sucks and reading an entire transcript is tedious. See also my post on how AI notetaking tools tend to exacerbate unhealthy meeting cultures.

Instead of relying on these automated sources, I write out a summary myself. Sometimes it’s a long summary, when I add in sources and references, or where I explore a theme from the conversation further that we didn’t have enough time for. This isn’t just a courtesy to my clients, even though it obviously takes time to write. It helps me think about something. It provides them with an artifact they can go back to.

The written word is the basis for decisions being made, productive meetings, healthy feedback, well-flowing communication, and, for some, the main way of thinking. The benefit of the written word, especially when it’s concise and to the point, is that it creates a historical archive. One of the great things about AI is that it can ingest all these sources and turn them into an archive that’s now easier to query than ever.

What isn’t great is that creating written words seems easier than ever, whether or not they’re saying anything meaningful or are actually expressing what someone is thinking. When I talk about the written word, I refer to those written by a human.

Written words make sense of long streams of conversations and consciousness. They condense endless meeting notes into a concise list of decisions and follow-ups. They allow a team to learn about what you’re thinking or working on, without having to spend time in a meeting.

The reaction I get is often one like “I don’t have the time.” or “I’m in too many meetings.” Or I don’t write well. Or, I’d rather communicate verbally. All fair, but consider this: would rather explain the same thing over and over again, always trying to piece past conversations together, and

One of your key responsibilities as an executive, manager, or leader is to provide clarity for your team. That clarity doesn’t exist in a dusty cloud where all conversations are mingled together, where fragments of information could be pulled out and considered. It exists in concise language, accessible for everyone to read and ask questions on. It exists in the written word and only there. It’s the single source of truth.