So how is a CTO different from a VPoE?

Hoffman and Cantrill explained that the CTO is most usually the technical founder of the company who establishes the “vision and culture” of the company, while being technically proficient “to validate the vision and culture” of the company. The CTO is supposed to be outgoing and extroverted enough to explain the vision to customers, the press, and the rest of the world. People in this post usually fail when they think they’re “engineers and not communicators”.

 The VPoE, according to the duo, would ideally be an engineer that the main team would be comfortable discussing technical dilemmas with and looking to for guidance. VPoEs fail in their duty when they think they’re the “managers of people, not creators of useful things”.