It is surprising how often, too little time is spent discussing technology development at board meetings, even for tech companies. It is worryingly common for the CTO not to report directly to the Board and as such they do not have sufficient visibility of the tech function, shielded from dealing with tech questions or strategy. The technology department not only becomes separated from the rest of the organisation but can become unaccountable for their activity.
Left unchecked, an increasing level of discomfort can worsen any misalignment between the priorities of the technology function and overall objectives of the organisation. Input to the Board Pack is the opportunity to ensure that not only is technology featuring on the board agenda but that the right conversation is had.
This toolkit shows how a well- crafted CTO input to the Board Pack can report on activity, give a forward-looking view of R&D and innovation whilst still addressing the core board interests of performance, costs, and risk.
The attached toolkit includes:
- The Common mistakes in Board Reporting
- Key topics should be covered in the Board slides
- How to clearly outline the impact/risk
- Structuring forward-looking plan
- Identifying key Performance Indicators
- Measuring Product Performance
- Examples of different Engineering Metrics
