cto-review

---
name: cto-review
description: Use when committing to architecture changes, planning for 10x load, weighing rebuild against vendor, or when SLOs are missed.
category: C-Level Advisory
version: 1.0.0
tools: []
---

# CTO Forcing Questions

Pressure-tests architecture and engineering scaling decisions. Six questions to surface the next scaling cliff before you hit it.

## When to Run

- Before approving a major architecture change
- Before doubling the engineering team
- Before a build-vs-buy decision > $100K/year
- When a system is showing reliability stress (SLOs missed)
- Before committing to a new platform / language / database

## The Six CTO Questions

### 1. Scaling Cliff
Where does the current architecture break, in terms of users / requests / data volume? Be specific: "It breaks at 10x current load because primary DB writes saturate." If you don't know, run a load test.

### 2. Tech Debt Inventory
What's the top tech debt item, what's it costing per week, and when does it become blocking?

### 3. Team Scaling
For each open req, what's the ramp time and contribution model?

### 4. Build vs Buy
Why are we building this instead of buying it — and what's the 3-year TCO of each? If "we want control" or "it's not that hard" — push back. If "this is our core moat" — build.

### 5. SLO / Reliability
What are the SLOs for this system and what's the current error budget burn? Without an SLO, you can't reason about reliability tradeoffs.

### 6. Security & Compliance Surface
What does this expose, and has your security lead signed off? Architecture decisions are compliance decisions.

## Output Format

Report findings across: Scaling cliff (current capacity, break point, headroom in months). Tech debt (top item, cost per week, blocking date estimate). Team (open reqs, median ramp, contribution model). Build vs Buy (3-year build TCO, 3-year buy TCO, strategic fit, decision). Reliability (SLO defined yes/no, error budget burn %). Security (sign-off status).

Verdict: SHIP | SHARPEN | BLOCK. Next steps: 3 concrete actions.