OPERATING SYSTEM · FIRST 90 DAYS

The first 90 days as CTO
do not end with
a presentation.

They end with a mandate. Or they do not — and then for the next six months you professionally explain why everything is broken while they quietly test your political resilience.

28chapters
50+artifacts
6memos
14day return

The chapter opens right away — no email, no signup. 12 minutes to decide whether this book is yours.

14-day money-back guarantee · instant delivery · secure checkout

the shadow cto
The 90-Day
CTO
Playbook
Mandate · diagnosis authority · budget
mandatediagnosisbudgetartifacts
the90daycto.comRU / EN
CEO CONVERSATION
"Here's what's manageable, here's what's not, and here are the three decisions I need today."

CTOs do not burn out over architecture

They burn out over responsibility without authority. The title is in the contract. The real mandate is not.

01 /

Borrowed conflicts

Product, Sales, and Finance bring old disputes disguised as technical work.

02 /

Responsibility without authority

The team expects decisions before the right to change the system is named out loud.

03 /

Late news

A problem becomes political not because of what it is — but because the CEO hears about it last.

Written for specific situations

Not for every leader. If your situation matches one below, there is likely something useful here right now.

01 /

New external CTO

No trust, no context, no mandate. The first 90 days are the only window to shape all three.

02 /

Engineer promoted to CTO

The title is granted. The rules changed. Authority is now built through negotiation, not through code.

03 /

VP / Head of Engineering

De-facto CTO without a formal mandate. The book is about changing that — or naming it honestly to both sides.

04 /

Technical co-founder

Built the product as an architect. Now needs to build the function. Different decisions, different documents, different board conversation.

05 /

Fractional / interim CTO

Multiple contexts in parallel. A system is the only thing that scales without losing quality.

An operating system. Not a book about CTO in theory.

If after reading a chapter you have not completed at least one artifact, the chapter did not work. The value comes from a completed artifact in a real meeting, not from reading.

Buy the toolkit — $129

14-day money-back guarantee · instant delivery

28
chapters
50+
artifacts
6
executive memos
6
appendices
// Principles built into the book
01
Do not break the system. Record everything.
02
Urgent work displaces. It is not added on top.
03
Decisions are framed as A/B/C, not as open questions.
04
A postmortem is not closed until the action ships or the risk is accepted.

The first 90 days run in parallel tracks

While you clarify the mandate, incidents, budget pressure, and team expectations are already moving. You cannot wait for the diagnosis to finish before starting everything else.

days 1–10
Mandate Contract, Stakeholder Map, Weekly CEO Update
days 8–30
Baseline, Access Audit, Engineering Health Scorecard
days 15–45
Quick wins, Delivery Review, Reliability Review
days 30–60
Decision rights, management layer, people decisions
days 45–75
Capacity Model, Roadmap Contract, Budget A/B/C
days 75–90
60-Day Memo, 90-Day Readout, Next 180 Days Plan

Ready tools you can put on the CEO's table

50+ artifacts across the book, workbook, and templates pack. Each one is a fillable template for a real meeting.

artifact_01.docx

CEO Mandate Contract

One page for outcomes, business pain, trade-offs, sensitive zones, and escalation path.

artifact_02.docx

30-Day Diagnosis

Baseline facts, key risks, safe quick wins, and the decisions needed from the CEO.

artifact_03.docx

Decision Log

Date, problem, A/B/C options, selected path, owner, and return date.

artifact_04.docx

Capacity Model

Real capacity after support, reliability, security, hidden work, and reserve.

artifact_05.docx

Roadmap Contract

Three to four quarterly outcomes, displacement rule, and checkpoints.

artifact_06.xlsx

Budget Request A/B/C

A resource request framed as accepted risk and price of inaction.

The book is a system. Between chapters I break down live cases: incidents staged as theatre, org charts that lie, metrics that get painted, and the people everything actually rests on. Anonymised — I work under NDA — but from practice.

These breakdowns go out on Telegram. The chapters of the new book ship there too — one at a time, as they’re written.

Read on Telegram →

Free. It’s not a newsletter — just a channel you can read in silence.

Choose your level of access

tier_01

Book

$39

For readers who want the system and chapter-by-chapter operating model.

  • PDF
  • 28 chapters
  • 6 appendices
  • 14-day guarantee
Buy the book
tier_03

Playbook + Access

$399+

For leaders and teams that need a mandate review or working session.

  • Everything in Toolkit
  • Review / consultation
  • Contextual 90-day plan
  • Bridge into consulting
Request access

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Without theatre

No invented logos, avatars, or quotes. Trust comes from the product contents, the precision of the problems, and the guarantee.

01 /

No fake logos

We do not publish company names without permission.

02 /

NDA-safe format

Testimonials appear only in a form that does not expose people or internal context.

03 /

Structure over urgency

Free chapter and 14-day refund — because one strong testimonial with a number beats ten enthusiastic ones.

14 days to test it. No explanation required.

If it does not help you prepare the CEO conversation and assemble your first artifacts, email us. We will refund the purchase.

Instant delivery · PDF · secure checkout

The Capacity Model became one slide. First budget meeting where the CFO didn't ask me to 'justify' every line — the hidden work was finally visible. −40% time spent defending headcount.

CTO, B2B fintech, 35 engineers

NDA-safe

I worked through the book from day one. On day 30 the CEO asked when the Mandate Contract would be ready. We signed it on day 34.

VP Engineering → CTO, Series B SaaS

NDA-safe

Frequent questions

Is this about architecture?+
What do I receive after purchase?+
Can I get a refund?+
Why is the brand faceless?+
Is there a Russian version?+

Don’t take the landing page’s word for it — check the text. The first chapter is open in full, no email, no signup: the story of a single incident and a breakdown of why the real question was not “why it broke” but “who gets named the culprit.”