We talk to Artur Wiśniewski, CTO at SmartFrame Technologies, to learn about his role and get his advice for overcoming the various challenges faced by CTOs

How long have you been with SmartFrame?

I’ve been with SmartFrame from the very beginning. When I started, I was developing early prototypes that were made before the company was registered.

In the years since, we developed those prototypes into the revolutionary image display technology you see today. And our development continues as we welcome new content owners and publishers to the SmartFrame image-streaming network every day.

How did you get involved with SmartFrame?

I have worked with Patrick Krupa, our Founder and CPO, on several interesting and innovative projects over the years.

We have, for example, built a custom e-commerce system for an essay publishing house, as well as an electronic version of a lighting industry magazine, complete with publishing tools and a reader app for iPad users, among many other things. SmartFrame was one such project that developed from similar circumstances.

What are your main responsibilities as CTO?

My role is constantly evolving, but the most general way to describe it is that I manage the development team operations.

I believe that the most important thing about being a CTO is to unlock your employees’ potential, both individually and as a team. I try to achieve that by gaining hands-on experience and using that to help others succeed, and by learning from my peers and using that knowledge to offer second opinions.

On top of this, I’m also heavily involved with the company’s organizational efforts.

What are the biggest challenges you face as a CTO and how are you overcoming them?

Running a development department in a constantly changing environment is the biggest challenge. Balancing between creating an agile environment, encouraging people to take risks versus managing risks, and following procedures to maintain stability can be demanding.

It’s interesting because there’s no optimal configuration. You need to adapt as the company grows, the market changes, technology expectations change, and so on.

As such, we’re very careful with each decision taken, trying not to ever corner ourselves. The architecture choices we make, and the general theme of small services talking to each other through well-defined interfaces, give us, in most cases, the ability to change course fairly quickly if required.

How have the issues of cyber security and data privacy evolved during your career?

I’ve been interested in web development from a very early age. Since then, cyber security and privacy issues have changed dramatically. Remember search bars in Internet Explorer, for example?

In all cases, the issues people were having back then were remedied either through legislation or better web standards and browser improvements in general. GDPR and the ‘cookie directive’ are the most important pieces of legislation in force now, whereas cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) limitations and increased sandboxing in browsers have both been significant technological developments.

The next thing on the horizon is the blocking of third-party cookies, which is designed to prevent the tracking of individuals across different websites. It is currently only in place in Safari and Firefox (and other more niche browsers), and, considering the low public opinion on the misuse of personal data, I’m honestly surprised that it’s taking so long to achieve across-the-board adoption. The majority of people are still using Chrome, which is the browser keeping third-party cookies alive.

What advice would you give for protecting against online threats?

My advice is to exercise caution in all aspects of online behavior. For example, never install pirated software, always use privacy-oriented browsers where possible, keep your devices updated, and use a password manager.

Also, never set the same password for multiple services. If you do, it’s just a matter of time before your data gets leaked.

Tell us about the importance of user experience.

User experience (UX) is everything, really. After all, our product is designed to be used by humans.

What’s also important is to realize that the ‘user’ in UX means different things in different situations. So in many ways, it is better to take a more holistic view and instead look at it as the overall digital experience (DX).

For example, having well-designed APIs and integration methods is just as important as having well-thought-out graphical user interfaces.

How has the rise of remote working affected your role as CTO?

At SmartFrame we’ve always had developers working fully remote, so we already had processes in place to account for this style of work. For this reason, our day-to-day development team operations haven’t changed.  

However, with so many more people around the world seeking to work on a remote basis, and employers no longer needing to limit their recruitment geographically, the talent pool has grown significantly. This combination of factors has meant the rise of remote working has ultimately been beneficial.

What is the most important thing to consider when building a team?

Building a team of developers is a tricky one. I believe it all begins with finding people who are outstanding on a technical level, but also have ambitions to run teams of their own at some point.

Following that, it is important to ensure you always provide enough capacity to cover current projects being developed, while at the same time staying two steps ahead.

Therefore, you should ensure the team is scalable at all times and introduce processes such as CI/CD, code reviews, task management, and quality assurance. These things take time to implement correctly, so it’s important to start early when it’s not so pressing to have them in place.

What advice do you have for finding the best talent?

The usual stereotype of a ‘true’ developer is someone who is not too talkative, generally socially awkward and has a hard time communicating. However, writing good code is not about how many design and architecture patterns you’re able to use, nor how clever you are. Writing good, easily understandable code is a communication skill, which in my experience is as important as technical excellence. Unless you’re looking for a team of one, that is.

Another useful trait to look for – particularly when hiring for a startup – is the ability to adapt to new circumstances. Some people prefer a stable work environment that uses the same processes at all times, and these people tend to feel uncomfortable when things change. At the earlier stages of a company’s development, it’s better to have people that are willing to conceive ideas and execute on changes.

How do you manage a remote team effectively?

We communicate daily, manage work using task-management software, and follow a set of rules to ensure these processes run smoothly. We also operate asynchronously as much as possible to ensure that we don’t end up sitting on calls all day, which can easily be done while working remotely.

And while remote work can be just as efficient as office-based work when managed properly, nothing can replace face-to-face contact for building relationships. That’s why it’s important to ensure the whole team gets together in person from time to time. 

What advice would you give for staying ahead of the game when it comes to new technologies and advances in the industry?

For me, it has always been easy to stay ahead of the game because technology is something I naturally find interesting. I tend to read a lot about current developments but also about the history of computing – you wouldn’t believe how many times the same problems are solved over and over again, just in different contexts.

There are many interesting resources for those who wish to learn more about the industry, so everyone should be able to find something that suits them. Personally, I read The Hacker News, and Ars Technica. I also like to keep an eye on Reddit boards such as /r/linux and /r/technology.

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