Look at your calendar for next week.
Does it reflect the work that will matter in 90 days?
Or is it just… full?
Most CTOs I coach have a packed diary.
Meetings stacked like Jenga blocks.
Barely a gap to think.
But when we audit it, less than 30% of those commitments move a strategic goal forward.
The rest? Urgency disguised as importance.
And here’s the cost:
If you keep saying yes to everything, you’ll spend the quarter in reactive mode.
Opportunities will pass you by because you won’t have the bandwidth to grab them.
And when you look back, you’ll realise you’ve been busy… but not forward.
1. Your calendar is your company
Whatever fills your week is what the company is actually focused on.
If it’s all hiring calls, incident reviews, and ad-hoc catch-ups, don’t be surprised when strategic priorities slip.
You’re signalling — to yourself and your team — that urgent always wins.
One CTO I worked with discovered his “strategy time” had been bumped 14 weeks in a row.
Not because he didn’t care.
But because he didn’t protect it.
2. Every “yes” now is a “no” to the future
A one-hour meeting today is an hour you can’t spend on strategic tech debt paydown, system architecture, or influencing the board.
Every “sure, I can join” trades a future outcome for a short-term patch.
3. Use the 90-day filter
Before you accept a meeting or task, ask:
• Will this directly support a goal we’ve committed to for this quarter?
• Am I uniquely required to be there?
• If this went perfectly, what would actually change?
If you can’t say “yes” to at least two, decline or delegate.
Stop asking “Can I fit this in?”
Start asking “Will this make the next 90 days better?”
👉🏼 Which meeting will you cancel next week to make space for strategically impactful work?
Talk soon,
Adam.
Community Updates:
Podcast
This week on The CTO Playbook, I speak with Joakim von PrĂłnay, an engineer turned psychologist and coach. We explore why planning fails, how overcommitment stalls teams, and how cultural change, more than process, helps leaders rebuild trust and make delivery more predictable.
🎧 Tune in on your favourite podcast platform or listen on the podcast page.
CTO Basecamp
Join me for a free 1-hour live session! Learn more about the 5 habits of high-impact CTOs and bring your current leadership challenge during the 30-minute Q&A. Sign up here.
CTO Ascent
If you’re ready to work through these shifts 1:1, let’s talk about my coaching programme for leaders in technology who want to escape firefighting and lead strategically. Book your call with me here.
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