The CTO is the North Star and must create a constellation of principles.

In the life of a software factory, hundreds of micro-decisions are made.

Culture is how things are done without thinking too much. – Michelism

Setting the cultural foundation—a constellation to navigate by—is a vital task for a CTO.

Here are some examples:

• What qualifies as production-ready?
• How to choose a programming language?
• How to structure testing strategies?

The CTO doesn’t need to make all the decisions but should establish the cultural-technological context that allows others to act autonomously, guided by the constellation of principles.