growth

Leave a lasting legacy, grow your network, and step confidently into your future opportunities. As a CTO, there comes a point when it’s time to move on, whether it’s your choice or the end of a mission you were hired for. Here’s how to finish strong and leave your current company and professional legacy on a high note. My CTO exit strategy is grounded in years of experience working with some of the largest software companies in the Czech Republic and mentoring engineering leaders across Central Europe. 1. Know your motivation for change Understanding your next move helps you land where you belong — and avoid where you don’t. Before anything else, take time to understand what you really want and expect from the change. Are you looking for growth and new challenges, or just trying to escape your current situation? Having a clear perspective will guide you in the right direction. 2. Define what you’re looking for next Don’t let the market dictate your path. Take control of your career by defining your next step. Knowing what you want before jumping into interviews will help you find the best fit for your goals and needs. Here are some important areas to consider: 3. Be upfront about your exit Don’t burn bridges. Be transparent to transition smoothly and protect your reputation. Once you’re sure, set your exit date and communicate it early. If there’s no fixed timeline but you sense your mission is ending, give at least a year’s notice. This approach is direct and professional, allowing everyone time to adjust. Leaving unexpectedly will damage your relationships, reputation, and references for future opportunities. 4. Bring a transition plan If you leave the company in chaos, you’ll damage their future and your legacy. Don’t just say you’re leaving — bring a game plan. Present a strategy outlining how the company can transition smoothly, including a high-potential replacement to carry on your work and key initiatives. Whether you find your successor or mentor someone internally, make sure you leave the company in good hands. 5. Leave a strategic roadmap A strategic roadmap helps your initiatives continue to succeed long after you’re gone. To leave your mark, offer a 1-year strategy with clear recommendations for ongoing and future projects. This is what professionals do. 6. Write your mission statement No mission story, no next step. Stop launching new initiatives and shift your energy toward closing out your mission. Create a powerful narrative about what you’ve achieved — a strong mission statement highlighting how you’ve moved the company forward. Your story needs to be true, real, and lasting — it shouldn’t evaporate two weeks after you leave the company.” This will be your selling point for future roles. Example mission statements: “I scaled the business from $500K to $50M in three years, expanding tech and product capabilities.” “I led the transition to a full cloud solution in 13 months, enabling 10x growth.” “I shifted the company from sales-led to product-led in nine months, focusing on high-impact functionalities.” “I grew the product from one country to a global offering with $50M annual revenue in three years.” 7. Offer your support after you’re gone Signal your dedication to the company’s success, even in your absence. Extend your support as a mentor or advisor after you leave. This shows your loyalty to the company’s future and helps your successor take over, reinforcing your leadership reputation and the legacy you leave behind. 8. Delegate, build your network, & boost your brand A strong network opens doors to new opportunities. A genuine personal brand positions you for lasting success. As you change over, start delegating responsibilities to free up time for expanding your network. Increase your visibility and build your brand by tapping into conferences, panels, meetups, podcasts, or Slack channels. One way to do this is by joining our Engineering Leaders Community of 1,000+ members. We offer high-value opportunities to connect with other engineering leaders and enhance your brand through active community involvement.  9. Leverage your network for new roles Your network is more likely to lead you to meaningful opportunities than traditional job hunting methods. Once your network is strong, start letting people know you’re available. This casual approach often leads to more authentic opportunities than relying on headhunters or job boards. Your connections can link you to roles that truly align with your skills and goals. 10. Find a mentor A mentor empowers you to make smarter decisions, boosts your market value, and opens doors you might not have noticed. Without one, you risk missing out on valuable advice that could shape your career. You might make avoidable mistakes, slowing your progress or causing you to miss important opportunities. Plus, a mentor can introduce you to their vast network of connections. Curious about how my mentoring business and the Engineering Leaders Community evolved in 2024? Check out my journey and learnings here. Bonus tip for interviews Stand out from other candidates by suggesting an internal audit. When interviewing for your next CTO role, don’t sugarcoat your mission. Offer to run an internal audit in your first three months to understand the company’s product strategy, business model, and operational efficiency. From there, propose a clear plan for achieving 10x improvements. Key takeaways: Master your CTO exit strategy to set up your future success Execute your exit like a pro — complete your mission, grow your network, and define your next move. A strategic departure sets the stage for your next big role as a CTO. About Marian Kamenistak Marian provides coaching and mentoring to engineering managers and leaders across various levels, helping organisations to succeed in building products. On top, Marian leads the Engineering Leaders Community, organising 9 meetups a year for Engineering Leaders, Managers, Tribe leads, VPEs and CTOs in Central Europe. Read more about Marian’s mission. Subscribe and stay tuned for the next post! 💪

Practical weekly strategies to set your team up for early success If you’ve recently stepped into a new role as a dev team lead, you might be feeling the pressure. This is your chance to make a strong first impression — but it’s not something that comes naturally. Having a battle plan is what sets the winners apart from the losers. In this post, I’m sharing practical tips and best practices I’ve developed through helping dozens of tech leaders succeed. These aren’t just theories — they’re real strategies that work. The 30-60-90-day contract Your goal for the first three months as a lead should be clear and simple: “In three months, I’ll embrace the new dev team, complete an internal audit, and present my battle plan.” This is how masters make contracts: it’s not just about setting goals, as those can change. It’s not about delivery, which is just the work itself. It’s about becoming a partner in crime, not a subordinate. TIPS: Here’s how to break that contract down week by week, ensuring you cover every base: Month 1: Owning your team’s focus This month, your priority is building relationships and understanding the team’s dynamics. Week 1: Build relationships If you don’t have relationships, you’ll fail. Reorganize your calendar with what’s important: relationship building. If you jump straight into tasks, prioritization, and delivery without first building relationships, you’ll find yourself without support when times are hard. Waiting two months into your new role as a team lead to do this is too late; it sends the message that you prioritize the delivery pipeline over people, leading to decreased team satisfaction. Your success depends on people. Most dev team leads are let go due to poor communication or relationship issues rather than technical skills. If you neglect relationship-building, it’s unlikely you’ll succeed. TIP: Avoid getting caught up in highly operational work. In most companies, delivering half of the quarterly roadmap or sprints makes you a hero. Communicate to your manager that you need time to ensure your team is performing at a high level. It may sound crazy, but it’s fair. Week 2: Learn the landscape Block off time for learning. Focus on understanding your responsibilities regarding the team and the product/technical roadmap. You can’t effectively set and manage priorities if you’re unclear about what you’re supposed to achieve. Differentiate yourself by showing a genuine interest in the product and business. This approach will help you establish the right priorities early on and position yourself for success in your new leadership role. Week 3: Set realistic expectations Set expectations wisely. Challenge the status quo to guarantee you meet delivery expectations. Question unrealistic roadmap timelines and make adjustments based on relevant data. Ask your direct manager or product manager, „How can we accomplish XYZ within this timeframe? If it’s not feasible, what alternatives can we explore?“ As the one responsible for your team’s delivery, saying „Yes, I can do that“ when you can’t and hoping for a miracle won’t lead to success. It’s a losing strategy. Advocate for realistic expectations for your team before it’s too late. Week 4: Create a team charter Create a team charter defining the team’s purpose, communication protocols, roadmap, current workload, and knowledge base. This reduces communication bottlenecks by clearly showing the team’s processes and objectives. The team charter protects you from becoming a yes-man. It’s an effective communication tool for ensuring team alignment and focus, protecting you from external interruptions. Without it, you’ll likely be overwhelmed by requests from sales and product managers, making it difficult to push back. This could lead to being overloaded with initiatives that you won’t have the capacity to complete. The end of month 1 Evaluate your progress with your manager by saying, „I’ve started building relationships, I’ve gotten to know our customers, I understand the product strategy and its purpose, and I’ve created a team charter.“ Ask for constructive feedback, and then you can consider your first month a success. I guarantee they’ll view your work positively if you take this approach. It sets a much different tone than saying, „We completed two additional sprints and delivered something.“ Month 2: Owning your team’s productivity Month 2 is where you’ll focus on optimizing team productivity. Week 5: Understand how your company operates This week, learn the company’s operational workflows, including its processes, tools, roadmap, and OKRs. Know how the company delivers value by tracing the entire journey from ideation to the point when new functionalities reach the customer. If you’re not familiar with how the company operates, you won’t be able to see the bigger picture or make informed decisions about what needs improvement. TIP: Don’t underestimate the importance of communication channels. If you only have one, it’s a mess. Every software development team should have separate channels for public issues, private matters, and escalations. Week 6: Conduct your audit Now that you understand the company’s processes, conduct an internal audit of your team. Review their workload, capacity, and performance using data from one-to-ones, Jira, and other sources to know how things work in reality. Focus on: Establish your priorities by asking yourself, „What should I optimize? How can I improve system and team performance?“ Week 7: Make your first improvement Using insights from your audit, make a small but impactful improvement. Choose a minor inefficiency, such as enhancing the two-level code review, fixing the pipelines, or addressing personnel issues. Show that your mission is to improve things. If you accept ‘the way things are’, you’ll never win. Don’t be the person making changes in the first week to assert your authority. Listen, understand how things work, and then propose the most impactful improvements. Week 8: Strengthen relationships further Reinforce your commitment to building relationships by supporting those around you and driving your team’s development. By now, you should be well-positioned to help your reports, peers, and stakeholders. Support those around you to maintain momentum in your new role. Without it, connections grow cold. Don’t chase the big wins at this stage. You understand your team’s dynamics, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and

Every CTO has faced the challenge: “What’s the best compensation model for my R&D team?” With so many options, it can feel overwhelming.