CTO vs. VP of Engineering
ooorrr: I'm the guy on the other side of the table: I'm the VP of Engineering who gets brought in. The circumstances are always the same - the CEO/COO/BoD doesn't believe that the CTO is the person they can trust to build great software and great processes. (This may or may not be true, and the company may or may not be doing that already - I've seen both. This is subjective even if you know what you're talking about.)A few simple notes, and please know I don't wish to be insulting, just clear:--This person is absolutely going to report to the CEO. The CEO is the person making the decision, and if he trusted you to build and run the organization, he would have had you hire the VPE. (On a related note, you missed an opportunity to fill a hole for the company that the CEO recognized.)CEOs (and any leader of a large, multi-fxnal organization) want their direct reports to be the people they can trust to get something done. You aren't that guy - the CEO doesn't want to go through you to find out how the engineering org is working, or he would have kept you in charge - so the VPE isn't going to work for you. Done.--The CTO/VPE peer relationship is perfectly reasonable. Sometimes it's a hierarchy, sometimes it's not. Usually when it's a hierarchy, it's because the CTO also runs other groups (like ops, tech support, etc.), and so is known by the CEO etc. to be a capable manager. You are not.So when I read your note, I can't tell if1) you're upset because you want to keep doing the VPE job, but you aren't going to get the opportunity;
2) you're happy doing the CTO/Chief Architect job, but are frustrated/saddened by how it was handled.You really do need to make this call. If it's #1, sorry - best you can do here is help hire a great VPE and leech on to learn from her. (Lot to be said for that.)If it's #2, the good part is that if the VPE is the right kind of egg, this can be very good for you:1) Many VPEs do this job because they don't want to be the Chief Architect. Some have the capability, some did once, some just don't, but you rarely have someone competing for your job or responsibility.2) You get to wipe your hands of everything besides making sure the company technically designs great software. As a company grows, that's a huge bonus. You have to genuinely _want_ to do this job when things get ugly or when negotiations get tricky.3) Your time with the CEO almost certainly diminishes, but that's ok, because you get to work with the people who matter more to you.I like what I do, and when I find a great CTO, that's awesome - it means that I can help on architecture occasionally, but really I get to focus on the problems I'm there to solve, knowing that many eyes are keeping us out of architectural trouble. So, make a friend (and if you're in Seattle, I'm always available).