Sign in Subscribe
8 min read

🍌 Great Lists, Redesigning Systems, Sisyphus, Stressful Deadlines, Tech DD, Coaching Teams, Postmortem Theatre: TMW #469

Conversations Stockholm - limited tickets available
☕
Thank you to Sonar for sponsoring this week's TMW - tools to automatically analyse code for quality and security issues, helping developers deliver clean, secure, and maintainable software across their projects

Hello, hello, hello, welcome to the week!

Right, Stockholm, let’s talk tech leadership. Join us on April 14th for our intimate half-day Conversations event at Blique by Nobis, where a carefully curated group of CTOs and senior tech leaders will tackle the challenges you face every week, from scaling teams and navigating AI to shaping strategy in uncertain markets. Guided by experienced facilitators like Adam Horner, Alisa Tikhova, Nazlı ƞahin, and Paul Lunow, you’ll dive into small-group roundtables and peer-led discussions designed for real talk, not slideware, and you'll walk away with concrete ideas you can use the very next day.​

Because the event is intentionally intimate, availability is extremely limited - once the room is full, that’s it. If you want a seat at the table where Stockholm’s tech leaders are comparing notes, sharing unfiltered lessons learned, and building relationships that last well beyond the event, now is the moment to secure your place rather than catching the insights second-hand. Reserve your ticket today and make sure you’re in the room when the conversations that will shape your next 12–18 months of leadership are happening.

Conversations Roadshow: Stockholm
Join CTO Craft in Stockholm for the Conversations Roadshow with peer led roundtables, senior facilitators, networking, and insights you’ll use straight away.
Conversations Roadshow

That's it, let's look at some links....

Andy @ CTO Craft

PS. Don't forget to take part in our annual Compensation Survey - every data point helps:

CTO Craft: 2026 Compensation Survey
CTO Craft alongside Albany Partners are conducting a survey on Compensation norms across tech leadership.

CTO Craft Con - Dates for Your Diary

CTO Craft Con: London
Join CTO Craft Con: London - an intimate, community-centered gathering for engineering leaders to connect, learn through insightful sessions, and build real peer relationships in a supportive environment.
CTO Craft Con: London 2026
CTO Craft Con: Toronto
Join CTO Craft Con: Toronto- an intimate, community-centered gathering for engineering leaders to connect, learn through insightful sessions, and build real peer relationships in a supportive environment.
CTO Craft Con: Toronto 2026
CTO Craft Con: Europe 2026
Join CTO Craft Con Europe 2026 in Amsterdam - an intimate, community-centered gathering for engineering leaders to connect, learn through insightful sessions, and build real peer relationships in a supportive environment.
CTO Craft Con: Europe 2026
CTO Craft | Conversations Roadshow
Each gathering follows the same small-group, peer-led format, but every event is shaped by its local context. Attendees, facilitators, and discussion topics differ from city to city, reflecting the challenges and opportunities CTOs are experiencing in that region.
Conversations Roadshow
SPONSORED
CTA Image

AI is helping us code faster, but is it helping us ship better software? Although 82% of developers agree AI speeds up coding, engineering velocity remains flat due to a bottleneck at verification.

Join a free global virtual event on AI-assisted development to help you deliver better software, faster.

Here’s a snapshot of Sonar’s keynote speakers:

  • Tariq Shaukat (CEO, Sonar)
  • Gergely Orosz (The Pragmatic Engineer)
  • Laura Tacho (Executive Advisor & CTO at DX)
  • Santiago Valdarrama (Founder at Tideily, ML Engineering Leader)
  • Kesha Williams (Founder at Keysoft, AI Architecture & Strategy Leader)
  • Lena Hall (CEO at Droid.AI, Pragmatic AI Adoption Expert)

Tracks will cover AI in the SDLC, engineering productivity, and SonarQube in action.

Register for the Summit

Reads of the Week

One list to rule them all
A simple list can make all of the hard decisions happen.
The Engineering ManagerJames Stanier

Leadership, Strategy & Business

Perfectly Designed for These Results
If you don’t like the outcome, redesign the system
Fish Food for ThoughtMike Fisher
Three Bad Managers
I worked for each of these humans. They either hired or promoted me. I worked for them for many years. As is my way, I’ve vastly altered the details of each hum
Rands in ReposeName *
How to Run a Technical Due Diligence?
You have been asked to run or participate in a due diligence process, and you have no idea how to get started. Hopefully after reading today’s article you’ll gain more clarity and confidence
Sudo Make Me a CTOSergio Visinoni
13 Provocative Questions CTOs Don’t Ask - Yaniv Preiss
With great power comes great responsibility to ask powerful, provocative questions
Yaniv PreissYaniv Preiss

Culture, People & Teams

Why “They” is The Most Dangerous Word at Work - Blog
Two weeks ago, I ​ shared ​ the lessons of Bill Gore and the case of W.L. Gore & Associates: the legendary example I recently re-read in the golden

Corporate Rebels
Stop Promoting the Wrong People into Manager Roles
One in four managers would prefer not to be people managers at all. Why the reluctance? Many of these managers found themselves in the role without knowing much about it beforehand, with less than a third reporting exposure to simulations, mentorship, or opportunities to gauge whether they were suited to becoming a manager. Highly engaged managers are nearly four times more likely to be high enterprise contributors, more than twice as likely to have high intent to stay, and three times more likely to exhibit high discretionary effort compared to their less-engaged counterparts. HR leaders need to both prevent the installation of reluctant managers and mitigate the impact of those already in the role.
Harvard Business ReviewColleen Adler
Large tech companies don’t need heroes
How to coach your team (without making them defensive)
When I give honest feedback, I don’t want people to argue with me. Here’s a simple technique I use so my direct reports are more likely to listen with an open mind.
Wes Kao's NewsletterWes Kao
CTA Image

Real Conversations for CTOs and senior tech leaders

Join CTO Craft for a half-day gathering in a city near you for senior technology leaders who want practical insight rather than surface-level talks. In 2026, we'll be visiting Stockholm, Berlin, London and NYC.

While the format remains consistent at each stop - small-group roundtables and peer-led discussion - every event is shaped by its local context. Attendees, facilitators, and discussion topics differ from city to city, ensuring each gathering reflects the challenges and opportunities CTOs are experiencing in that region.

Each session is designed to create space for honest conversation, shared problem-solving, and connections that continue beyond the day. Tickets for each city are limited - don't miss your chance!

Grab your Conversations ticket

Technology, Operations & Delivery

The Sisyphean Tragedy of Planning
Stop Trying To PUSH Rocks Up-Hill Like Sisyphus
Maarten’s NewsletterMaarten Dalmijn
Post-Mortem Theatre
I put a post-mortem in your post-mortem
JoTJeff
AI is Coding at Warp Speed, but Your Delivery is Still Stuck in Traffic
AI is making engineers write code faster—but most teams aren’t shipping faster. The bottleneck moved downstream into code review, QA, and shared context. Here’s where delivery actually gets stuck (and what to fix first).
Tenmas TechGueri Segura
The hidden danger of shipping fast
What to do when product velocity breaks the speed of adoption
Product for EngineersCleo

Stress, Wellbeing & Growth

Why deadlines explode stress 💣
3 small shifts to calm your nervous system at work
The Good Busy ⏱The Good Busy ⏱
When Speaking Up Changes How You’re Seen
A reflection on ownership, timing, and unintended labels
Meaning Over MetricsTarun Kohli
The Art of Letting Go (of the Agenda)
Planning is important. All the tools we use to organize around the work — agendas, roadmaps, stakeholder decks, decision frameworks — are

MediumJackie Colburn
Burnout Isn’t Laziness: How to Rest Without Falling Behind
Burnout & Laziness:
MediumPrachi Sharma

That’s it!

If you’d like to be considered for the free CTO Craft Community, fill in your details here, and we’ll be in touch!

Campus by CTO Craft: The Go-to Resource for Senior Technology Leaders
Created for CTOs, by CTOs: A transformative learning community for senior technology leaders in startups and scale-ups
CTO Craft Campus

Interested in sponsoring TMW or any of our events? Check out some stats here

Please do remember to share this link if you know of anyone who’d like to receive TMW: https://techmanagerweekly.com

Have an amazing week!

Andy

Published by:

Andy Skipper