2025 Kickoff: Align Engineering to the Business

Set Yourself Up for Success in 2025 by Mastering Alignment

👋 Hello Technocrats!

I hope you had a great break & happy new year 2025! I'm Bobby — a 4x CTO sharing product and engineering insights for the C-Suite & Executives.

A lot of tech leaders struggle with achieving “alignment” with the business. But what does alignment even mean? And why is it important to get it right?

Today we clear up alignment and what it should mean to tech leaders especially as we kickoff the start of the year.

Cheers & let’s dive in, 🦈

Bobby

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Let’s be honest, alignment is one of those corporate buzzwords ⚡ we all got sick of years ago.

But the phrase has managed to stick around the executive ranks for a reason: it’s really damned important!

For a CTO making sure their department is headed in the same direction as the rest of the company is critical.

But if you look at most functions in an organization like HR, Marketing or Customer Support the one department that seems to most frequently get OUT of alignment is Engineering.

I’ve seen many examples of businesses trying to fly from L.A. to New York, meanwhile Engineering was busy rowing 🚣 down the Mississippi reading Mark Twain.

In a few instances the “fast fix” to this was just to put the CEO & CTO in a room together until they had their “aha” moment. This eventually lead to alignment but it was painful & really never should have come to this.

In other words, too many companies blow through hordes of cash, time & lost opportunities simply because of misalignments between engineering & the business.

Defining Alignment

Defining alignment between an engineering organization & the business has been clouded & confused for years & years.

But it’s actually not as difficult as you think to clarify it.

I’m sharing my list of CTO alignment factors below:

Alignment Factors

1. 🔭 Vision - is Engineering tracking to the macro vision of the company?

2. 📈 Business Objectives - is Engineering driving specific BO’s for the year?

3. 🏇 Speed - is Engineering moving at the appropriate pace for the company?

4. 🧑 Customer Needs - is Engineering satisfying the high priority customer needs?

5. 💰 Costs - is Engineering achieving its financial objectives?

These are vital questions every technology leader should consider when kicking off the year.

There are a couple of more, by the way:

• Innovation - is Engineering innovating in the way the business needs?

• Quality - is Engineering building at the quality level customers need?

Unfortunately, more often than not CTOs & VPEs don’t think deeply enough about these topics and therefore don’t force the business and themselves to answer them specifically enough.

This leads to significant problems in many companies.

Consequences of Misalignment

When Engineering is out of alignment with the business, the consequences can be devastating—not just for the engineering team but for the entire organization.

Here are some of the most common misalignment scenarios:

Non-Delivery 😨

It’s engineerings job to deliver on time & if the organization and business aren’t on the same page it very often leads to non-delivery of software projects. We’ve all seen it countless times before: engineering is working their tail off on “something” (?), but projects aren’t rolling off the assembly line completed and ready to go.

Low Morale & Talent Loss 😥

Contrary to what you may think about engineers being buried in code, they are actually very sensitive to misalignment between engineering & business. They detect it in meetings, via the constant pivots and so forth. And the impact of this is either low morale or talent loss or both. You won’t retain your A & B players if you don’t align engineering & the business.

Technical Debt 💳

Building the wrong thing or moving at the wrong pace often results in shortcuts, rushed decisions, and poorly thought-out architectures. This creates a backlog of technical debt that slows down future progress.

Misalignment in fact is one of the biggest sources of technical debt and a lot of CTOs don’t even realize it.

Wasted Dollars 💵

Misalignment between Engineering and the business wastes money on unnecessary features, rework, over-engineering, and missed opportunities. It also leads to turnover, lost productivity, and delayed revenue. For CTOs, achieving alignment is essential to safeguard resources and protect the bottom line.

Missed Opportunities 🌧️

Missed opportunities arise when Engineering focuses on low-priority work instead of addressing critical customer needs or market demands. Delays in shipping key capabilities can result in lost revenue, customer churn, and competitive disadvantages. Prioritizing alignment ensures the team works on what matters most, seizing opportunities rather than letting them slip away.

There are additional consequences as well, including:

• Customer dissatisfaction because quality expectations may not be clear

• Leadership friction putting the CTO at odds with other execs

Achieving Alignment

Getting Engineering aligned with the business isn’t magic—it takes intentionality, clear communication, and consistent effort. Here’s how you can make it happen:

1. Start at the Top

Alignment begins with leadership. As CTO, you need to understand the company’s vision, strategy, and priorities inside out. If you’re unclear, schedule the tough conversations with your CEO or other key execs. You can’t align your team until you’re aligned yourself.

2. Translate Business Objectives into Engineering Priorities

Business goals like “increase revenue by 20%” or “enter a new market” mean nothing to your engineering team without context. Break these objectives into tangible product & engineering deliverables and ensure the team understands their role in achieving them.

3. Stay Customer-Centric

Regularly ask: “What do our customers need most?” Whether it’s fixing bugs, adding features, or improving performance, aligning engineering efforts with customer priorities ensures you’re working on what truly matters.

4. Measure What Matters

Use metrics to track alignment. Is Engineering delivering on business goals? Are projects on time and on budget? Are customer satisfaction scores improving? Keep a close eye on these indicators and course-correct as needed.

5. Over Communicate

Alignment thrives on transparency. Schedule regular syncs with your exec team to ensure Engineering and the business stay on the same page. Similarly, share the “why” behind decisions with your engineering teams—it boosts engagement and clarity.

Maintaining Alignment

Achieving alignment is one thing—keeping it is where the real work begins.

Alignment isn’t a “set it and forget it” situation. It’s like steering a ship: you have to keep adjusting course to stay on track.

Here’s how to make sure Engineering and the business don’t drift apart:

1. Keep the Vision Front and Center

People forget. Even your best engineers can lose sight of the big picture. Regularly reinforce the company’s vision and how their work fits into it. This isn’t just a one-time all-hands—it’s a constant drumbeat.

2. Regularly Revisit Priorities

What was critical three months ago might not even matter today. Business goals evolve, and so should your team’s focus. Schedule alignment check-ins to recalibrate before things go off the rails.

3. Create Feedback Loops

Alignment isn’t a one-way street. Your engineers often spot misalignments before anyone else. Make it easy for them to raise flags and suggest course corrections.

4. Stay Transparent

Nothing kills alignment faster than a lack of communication. Be upfront about changes in business priorities and why they’re happening. Your team doesn’t need sugarcoating—they need clarity.

5. Use Metrics as Guardrails

Metrics are your early warning system. If velocity drops, costs spike, or customer satisfaction dips, it’s time to investigate. Misalignment almost always leaves a trail in the data.

6. Celebrate Wins, Fix Losses

When alignment drives a big win, shout it out. And when something goes sideways, own it, fix it, and move on. Both moments are opportunities to reinforce the importance of staying in sync.

Alignment is never perfect, but with constant care and attention, you can keep Engineering rowing toward the right destination—no detours down the Mississippi.

The Hardest Part of Getting Aligned

Here’s the thing about alignment: it’s not always on Engineering.

Sometimes, the business doesn’t know what it wants, and that’s where things get messy.

How are you supposed to align Engineering with a moving target? Or worse, with no target at all?

It’s one of the most frustrating parts of being a CTO—you’re expected to deliver, but the destination keeps changing, or no one can clearly articulate it in the first place.

Here’s how this usually plays out:

Shifting Priorities

One week it’s “customer retention is everything,” the next it’s “we need to ship this new product yesterday.” Engineering gets stuck in whiplash mode, constantly pivoting and never finishing anything.

Vague Objectives

You’re asked to “innovate,” “reduce costs,” or “scale for growth,” but the CEO & ELT isn’t defining what success looks like. Engineers end up building features or systems that don’t actually solve the business’s problems.

Competing Agendas

Sales wants one thing, Product wants another, and Marketing’s screaming for something entirely different. As the CTO, you’re caught in the middle, trying to figure out which fire to fight first.

What’s a CTO Supposed to Do?

Force Clarity

Sometimes, your job is to hold up the mirror. Sit down with the CEO, COO, or whoever is driving the strategy and ask the tough questions: “What are we actually trying to achieve this year? What’s most important, and what can wait?” Push for specifics—even if it makes people uncomfortable.

Be a Translator

When the business speaks in vague terms, it’s your job to turn that into something actionable for Engineering. If the goal is “reduce costs,” ask, “By how much? Where? What’s the acceptable trade-off?” Then create a roadmap that reflects those answers.

Set Boundaries

When everything is a priority, nothing is. It’s okay to say, “We can’t do all of this at once, but here’s what we can deliver if we focus.” It’s your responsibility to manage expectations and protect your team from burnout.

Create a Feedback Loop

If the business doesn’t know exactly what it wants, at least build a system to get closer. Ship small, gather data, and iterate quickly. Show progress, and let the results help define the direction.

Be Comfortable with Ambiguity

Sometimes, alignment doesn’t mean having all the answers—it means keeping Engineering moving forward while the business figures things out. Build in flexibility so your team can pivot without losing momentum.

Final Thoughts

In great companies getting alignment is time consuming (because you’re spending a lot of time understanding & setting goals) but it’s not difficult.

In average companies alignment attempts are made and some alignment happens but often times Engineering drifts out of alignment causing problems.

In bad companies no one even knows that alignment is a thing or they just consider it a buzzword and spend no time on it.

Here’s the fundamental thing to note about alignment though: you’re doing it all the time at a small scale:

• You’re trying to get aligned with your husband or wife 24x7 😃

• You’re trying to get your kids aligned with you

• You’re trying to stay aligned with your career goals

• You’re aligning your daily habits with your health goals

You’re trying to stay aligned all the time in many aspects of life.

So why would you think that even a small Engineering organization wouldn’t need to be aligned to the company?

It’s vital and if you do it right in January you’ll set yourself up for success the rest of the year.

Happy 2025! 🥂