Why Not Just Bits?
Leading in tech isn’t about chasing shiny frameworks or tossing GPT at every problem. I’ve sat through enough board meetings and stood at enough whiteboards to know: most of the mess isn’t technical. It’s people. Priorities. Poor decisions wrapped in nice slides.
I started as a developer. Spent years shipping code, fixing outages at 2 a.m., arguing over tabs vs spaces. Then one day someone called me “the tech lead,” and things got...weird. No roadmap. Just expectations.
Now I advise others on that same shift—from builder to decision-maker. From writing code to shaping teams, budgets, and bad news.
Once a month, I send out a note. No fluff. Just the stuff I wish someone had told me before I walked into that first exec meeting with a coffee-stained printout and a knot in my stomach.
What’s in it:
The actual problems CTOs deal with (not the ones on Medium)
Leadership lessons they don’t cover in architecture reviews
Docs, templates, playbooks—stuff you can copy, steal, or ignore
If you’re a senior engineer tired of being “almost ready” or a tech lead getting dragged into planning meetings wondering what the hell a “QBR” is, this is for you.
No silver bullets. Just better armor.
Subscribe if you want it. Or don’t. I’ll keep writing either way.
About the Author
Alex Di Mango is a CTO, Community Builder and the Author of the newsletter "Not Just Bits," which support hundreds of CTOs in navigating career challenges with lightweight and informative resources.
With 20 years in tech and over a decade of leadership experience, Alex has supported companies across Italy, the UK, the USA, and Germany in streamlining operations, launching products faster, entering new markets, and enhancing employee satisfaction and retention.
Alex enjoys sharing his learning and experiences with those on similar career paths, facing comparable challenges. Thanks to his guidance, many have progressed to lead teams at major companies like Zendesk, Shopify, Apple, and Facebook.
