I have previously written a few articles focused on my career, covering topics such as my approach to career planning, a day in the life and the importance of purpose.

Although some of these articles are fairly old they are still relevant today. For example, the specifics outlined in my “Day in the Life” artcile have evolved. However, the approach remains consistent and continues to serve me well.

In my combined role as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), I have 7 direct reports and supervise approximately 115 employees and 176 contractors. These employees and contractors are distributed across three primary locations, specifically the UK, US, and India.

With over 300 individuals reporting up to me (approximately 46% of all IT), it is important to find a “working rhythm” that promotes discipline and delivery excellence, ensuring regular touch-points that target specific outcomes.

As a result, I thought I would share the type and cadence of these regular touch-points.

The diagram below highlights a single month, with an approximate snapshot of the regular meetings.

Working Rhythms

Each structured meeting has a specific focus and outcome.

  • Lead Team SCRUM Meetings (30 Minutes - Weekly) - Short, time-bound lead team meetings that ensure alignment for the week ahead, focused on immediate priorities and barriers.

  • Joint Leadership Meetings (60 Minutes - Twice Monthly) - Engineering and Information Security leadership meeting, focused on business context, strategic priorities, people development, ensuring individuals are motivated and empowered.

  • Team Meetings (60 Minutes - Engineering Monthly / Infomation Security Twice Monthly) - All team meetings, promoting strong situational awareness, connecting team priorities with business outcomes, and ensuring individuals have a sense of purpose.

  • 1:1 Meetings (60 Minutes - Twice Monthly) - Direct report 1:1 meetings, focused on personal development and career planning.

  • Enterprise Architecture (60 Minutes - Twice Monthly) - Office of the CTO, focused on the IT ecosystem strategy, principles and positioning.

  • IT Lead Team (120 Minutes - Twice Monthly) - Office of the CIO, focused on strategy, alignment and people engagement.

The cadence of the meetings is based on the need and specific audience. For example, engineers value “time at the keyboard”. Therefore, I attempt to limit the time they are forced to spend in meetings.

Inaddition to this regular cadence, I also run ad-hoc “skip-level” check-ins, where I connect with individuals and groups outside of my direct reports, helping to gain additional, unfiltered feedback and insights.

Overall, I believe this working rhythm helps to ensure quality, focus and discipline across the team, supported by a regular and consistent pattern of engagement.

enterprise day_in_the_life career personal_development chief_technology_officer cto architecture enterprise_architecture ea chief_information_security_officer ciso information_security cybersecurity security innovation strategy stem my_setup lifeintech lifeinwork