In mature companies, CTO can play two radically different roles.
In the first — they're a co-pilot, translating business course into technological acceleration. In the second — a compensator, filling the strategic vacuum and steering instead of business.
From the outside it looks identical: initiatives, KPIs, maturity growth. But inside — different physics of power.
The Mechanics
Clear business course exists. CTO helps navigate: builds systems so business grows faster and safer. Works "in sync": strategy → architecture → result.
When business doesn't set vector, CTO takes initiative, creating a rational but self-contained system. Everything is correct, but there's no goal anymore — only improvements for the sake of improvements.
Signals of Transition to Compensation
CTO starts explaining to business what it needs. Priorities are formulated "from load," not "from opportunity." The phrase appears: "if only business wasn't slowing us down..." Infrastructure grows faster than revenue. Everyone is busy, but nobody feels forward movement.
This is the moment when the steering wheel passed from strategy's hands into engineering's hands. The system still flies — but no longer where it should.