About MBA - A day in the Life of a Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

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Marketing Manager

Operations Manager

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)




	Ekhlaque Ahmad Bari
	34 years IT Infrastructure & Governance Leader GE Commercial Finance London

Interview of Chief Technology Officer (CTO)


	7:00 AM - A very early start Fight against every bone in the body to get out of bed by 7:00. Reach office after a 90-minute commute involving a train ride and two short tube changes.

	9:00AM to 6:00PM - The days are just packed All working days are punctuated with conference calls and meetings. We work in a virtual office environment, meaning most people we work with like my peers, direct reports and colleagues are located in offices spread across the globe. Therefore, most discussions are held over conference calls. However, my manager sits in the same office as I and there are visitors from other offices, too. In such cases, we do have an in-person meeting. On an average 5 to 6 hours out of a 10-hour working day is spent on conference calls and meetings.

	Management tool number 1 - E-mail Email is by far the most important tool. Decisions, approvals, notifications, organization announcements, communication and discussions all take place over email. If email isn't available, there isn't much to do. I also use Outlook to organize meetings, maintain contacts, etc. Email is checked while attending conference calls that don't require my attention throughout its duration or during the vacant slots between conference calls/meetings.

	Management tool number 2 - To-Do List This is what I call real work. I maintain a paper to-do list where I jot down tasks assigned to me during the conference call/meetings and from emails. It's the only paper I use in the office apart from the mandatory legal paper work like POs, Invoices etc. Tasks on the to-do list are rated for urgency and difficulty. If there are no urgent tasks and depending upon the time available, I usually start with the most difficult tasks and work my way down the list. These tasks are performed either at the end of the day, during the commute or in the vacant slots between meetings/conference calls.

	Management tool number 3 - Presentations Business depends heavily on presentations. All of the strategy, planning, status reports and getting buy-in are done through presentations. I usually make at least one presentation every week and work on it every day of the week.

	Management tool number 4 - Breaks There are no official breaks. Employees use their own discretion. I usually try and take a smoking break every 2/3 hours. I also use this time to have a quick chat with my direct reports. Most conversations are casual in nature but sometimes we do have a formal discussion over coffee. Most lunches are working lunches but a few times in a month, we go out for lunch in a group with my manager or my direct reports.

	Wrap Up Depending on the time I have to get back home (family comes first), I try to finish as many emails and tasks on to-do lists before I leave between 6:00/7:00PM. On some rare days, or some busy periods, I leave office later than 8:00PM.

	As told to Pegasus in November 2005.

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