Ask HN: My CTO is wrong (or worse) and nobody is challenging him. What can I do? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: My CTO is wrong (or worse) and nobody is challenging him. What can I do?

4 pointsthrow898 comments

I am regular reader and occasional contributor to HN. This is a single-use account for reasons that are, or will become, obvious.

My company’s CTO suddenly decided that he wants to rebuild an important part of our software by buying and integrating with a certain BigCo solution. At one point, a document circulated and explained that our current software is not able to extend, scale, support new clients, etc, therefore the BigCo integration will be the way to go.

I am a senior engineer with a lot of experience in and of of this company and I seem to be the only one vocal about these problems: - nobody actually attempted to evaluate the existing solutions that are in production and working well - the development process is completely backwards. First, he decided on a vendor, then the senior management is working backwards to a solution based on the vendor, then some use cases are slowly popping out, and then a problem statement is written when someone is finally asking for it formally. There is no user or market research - There are many drawbacks to the solution, and almost no advantages - The cost of the proposed solution (including outside consultants) is very large. There is no clear benefit even on the long term, with huge delays and costs on the short term. It could bring down the whole company

In private conversations there is some skepticism on the solution, even suspicion of conflict of interest, but nobody is standing up to the CTO challenging this solution and his choice of the vendor. The CTO is known to be stubborn and authoritarian, so in these tough times for job seekers nobody is taking any risks. I am many levels below the CTO and all of of my attempts to raise concerns are quickly silenced by all the senior management I am interacting with.

Playing along feels safe but also horrible from a moral point of view. I could not keep my head up with friends or family if I do not escalate this. But how? To the CEO, to HR, to the board? What are the legal/employment implications?

Step back a bit to evaluate your situation.

"I could not keep my head up with friends or family if I do not escalate this"

Really? As you noted, you're many levels below the CTO. Why would the CTO's decision affect your ability to be in harmony with your friends & family? This indicates you have far too much emotional attachment to your work. Remember, you work for a business and at the end of the day that business is going to make decisions irrespective of how you feel about them. You should document and communicate your concerns in a non-combative way and then move on. Invite the CTO for a coffee to talk over the decision from their perspective, again not so you can combat them on it but so you can understand where they are coming from. If you can't come to understand and accept their decision and/or if you truly believe the CTO is immoral then it's time for you to find another job, fighting them in this one will very likely get you nowhere.

If the CTO and managers really as described fighting over this won't get him nowhere it will get him exactly one place and that's out on the street.

Often times not all decisions are clearly concisely explained in a way that lower level people can understand. One of the reasons that senior leadership sometimes goes with third-party software to pin integrations around is to lessen the reliance on in-house knowledge. This is often not directly stated but it is the goal of some people in senior leadership they trust external organizations that they can partner with more than they trust their local talent. There can be many many reasons for this and it's usually not because they don't believe their people are talented.

Oftentimes leadership will have great admiration for the technical talent of their people but they also realize that talented people are not slaves and can choose to leave at any point. They mitigate this risk by using external utilities from vendors. It's very common for the top talented people to push back against this because it feels as if it's an attack on their abilities when in reality it's mostly a risk mitigation scheme.

All companies do this as they grow and change and you either grow and change with it or you move on. The option of moving on is exactly why companies choose the strategy you're describing. So it is a bit of a self-perpetuating cycle but it is what it is.

I won't give up more details so I can stay anonymous. But I can assure you that I have good knowledge of both the existing systems and the proposed solution. It's not a matter of the decision not being well explained. The most outrageous is the completely backwards development process.

> Invite the CTO for a coffee

Depends on the company. I tried that. The CTO’s own internal profile (on our corporate Facebook-like thing) said “email me to have a coffee”.

I fell for that. It’s a good way for the CTO to find out who they can’t trust. Did not help my career in any way.

I've been there. You have to do the work or quit. Nobody is going to overrule the CTO.

The forces arrayed against you are too great, and likely driven by financial and political considerations. Best get another job, or keep your head down. I have worked in large orgs where senior managers have taken back handers from vendors. I've even seen someone dismissed for that reason. My guess is there's shady stuff going on several levels up, and it will only hurt you if you try to fix it.

Yeah, but that's soul crushing and leaves you dead inside, with little motivation for work.

The practical "solution" (if one can even call it that) is to carry on. If you can afford it or if it is seriously affecting your wellbeing, just quit and look for a new job. If you can't, just carry on until you find a job.

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