CTO Advisory
Strategic guidance for technology leaders navigating complexity and driving organizational transformation
About This Service
As a CTO or technology leader, you face a unique set of challenges that extend far beyond technical decision-making. You're responsible for aligning technology investments with business objectives, designing organizational structures that scale, managing technical debt while delivering new capabilities, and providing leadership that inspires high-performing teams. These challenges intensify during periods of rapid growth, organizational change, or strategic pivots.
Campbell Method CTO Advisory provides experienced counsel specifically designed for technology leaders operating in high-growth environments. Drawing on 25+ years of hands-on technical expertise and leadership experience at scale, I work alongside you to navigate complex decisions with confidence. This isn't generic consulting that parachutes in with frameworks and disappears. Instead, it's a partnership approach where I become a trusted advisor who understands your business context, respects your constraints, and helps you see around corners.
Our advisory engagements address the full spectrum of CTO responsibilities: technology strategy and roadmap development, engineering organizational design, build-versus-buy decisions, technical architecture validation, vendor evaluation and selection, platform modernization strategies, and leadership team development. Whether you're scaling from 10 to 100 engineers, navigating a platform migration, or establishing technical governance frameworks, CTO Advisory provides the strategic perspective and tactical guidance to succeed.
This service is ideal for CTOs and VPs of Engineering at scale-up organizations, business owners and CEOs seeking strategic technology counsel, and technical leaders preparing for or transitioning into CTO roles.
What You'll Achieve
- Technology roadmap aligned with business strategy: Clear multi-year technical vision that directly supports your business objectives and growth plans, with quarterly milestones and decision points
- Optimized engineering organizational structure: Right-sized team topology and reporting structure that enables autonomous execution while maintaining alignment and quality standards
- Validated technical architecture decisions: Confidence in platform choices, technology selections, and architectural patterns backed by real-world experience and industry best practices
- Strategic framework for build-versus-buy decisions: Clear decision-making criteria and evaluation process for platform investments, reducing risk and optimizing engineering capacity allocation
- Executive communication toolkit: Polished frameworks and narratives for presenting technical strategy to boards, investors, and non-technical stakeholders
- Technical leadership development plan: Structured approach to growing your engineering leadership team's capabilities and establishing consistent leadership practices
How We Work Together
- Discovery & Context Assessment (Weeks 1-2): Comprehensive review of your current technology landscape, organizational structure, business objectives, and key challenges. Deep-dive sessions with engineering leadership, review of technical architecture and roadmaps, and stakeholder interviews to understand constraints and priorities.
- Strategy Development & Validation (Weeks 3-4): Collaborative development of strategic recommendations tailored to your context. Joint working sessions to pressure-test approaches, identify risks and dependencies, and refine solutions. Creation of actionable frameworks, decision trees, and implementation roadmaps.
- Implementation Support & Advisory (Weeks 5-8): Ongoing advisory support as you execute strategic initiatives. Regular check-ins to address emerging challenges, validate decisions, and provide course corrections. Coaching for your leadership team on change management and communication.
- Transition & Sustainability (Weeks 9-10): Documentation of frameworks, playbooks, and decision criteria for your team to leverage independently. Knowledge transfer sessions to ensure your organization can sustain momentum without ongoing advisory support.
Typical Timeline
CTO Advisory engagements typically run 8-12 weeks for initial strategic work, with flexibility to extend based on your specific needs and timeline. Many clients find value in establishing an ongoing advisory relationship after the initial engagement, with monthly or quarterly check-ins to address emerging challenges and maintain strategic alignment.
The cadence is designed to respect your time while maintaining momentum. Expect 4-6 hours per week of engagement during active phases, structured as focused working sessions, architecture reviews, or strategic planning workshops. This allows you to maintain focus on day-to-day operations while ensuring consistent progress on strategic initiatives.
Investment & Pricing
CTO Advisory engagements are custom-priced based on the scope of your challenges, the size and complexity of your organization, and the duration of the engagement. Pricing reflects the strategic value of experienced technology leadership guidance and the significant time investment in understanding your unique context.
Every engagement begins with a complimentary discovery call to understand your situation and determine if there's a strong fit. During this conversation, we'll discuss your specific challenges, desired outcomes, and timeline. Following this, I'll provide a transparent proposal outlining the engagement structure, deliverables, and investment required. Reach out to schedule your discovery call and receive a custom proposal tailored to your needs.