cto-review

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

/cs:cto-review <plan> — Architecture and scaling interrogation. Tech debt, scaling cliffs, team scaling, build-vs-buy.

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Sourcealirezarezvani/claude-skills

Added on2026-05-14

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add alirezarezvani/claude-skills cto-review

SKILL.md Content

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/cs:cto-review — CTO Forcing Questions

Command:

/cs:cto-review <plan>

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 / DB

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 10× current load because the primary DB writes saturate."
If you don't know, run a load test before deciding.

2. Tech Debt Inventory

What's the top tech debt item, what's it costing per week, and when does it become blocking?

bash

python ../../../skills/cto-advisor/scripts/tech_debt_analyzer.py

3. Team Scaling

For each open req, what's the ramp time and contribution model?

bash

python ../../../skills/cto-advisor/scripts/team_scaling_calculator.py

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 the answer is "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.
See
```
engineering/slo-architect
```
for SLO design.

6. Security & Compliance Surface

What does this expose, and has cs-ciso-advisor signed off?

Architecture decisions are compliance decisions.
Loop in cs-ciso-advisor before commit.

Workflow

Run the tech debt analyzer + team scaling calculator
Define the scaling-cliff hypothesis explicitly
Cross-check with cs-ciso-advisor for security implications
Apply the verdict

Output Format

markdown

# CTO Review: <plan>
**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD

## Scaling Cliff
- Current capacity: <metric>
- Break point: <metric>
- Headroom: X months at current growth

## Tech Debt
- Top item: <description>
- Cost per week: $X or N eng-hours
- Blocking date estimate: <date>

## Team
- Open reqs: N
- Median ramp: X months
- Contribution model: <pairing / squad / area>

## Build vs Buy
- 3-year build TCO: $X
- 3-year buy TCO: $X
- Strategic fit: <core / context>
- Decision: BUILD | BUY

## Reliability
- SLO defined: yes / no
- Error budget burn: X% (target < Y%)

## Security
- cs-ciso sign-off: ✅ / ❌

## Verdict
🟢 SHIP | 🟡 SHARPEN | 🔴 BLOCK

## Next Steps
[3 concrete actions]

Routing

```
/cs:ciso-review
```
— mandatory if data surface changes
```
/cs:cfo-review
```
— for build-vs-buy > $100K
```
/cs:execute
```
— quarterly plan
```
/cs:boardroom
```
— for architecture pivots