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About the Book
The Cybernetic Enterprise: CTO Playbook is a concise, execution-first guide for technology leaders who need to turn strategy into sustained, measurable outcomes. It translates the Cybernetic Enterprise model, an operating system for a continuously adaptive organization, into concrete moves a CTO can run quarter by quarter.
You’ll start by reframing the CTO’s mandate: own the enterprise “nervous system”, the platform, telemetry, and feedback loops that connect strategy to execution in real time, measured with an executive scorecard for flow, stability, value, platform, and talent.
Then you’ll put the model into motion with ten actionable plays (e.g., Architect for Simplicity & Scale, Build the Enterprise Platform, Lead with Feedback & Experiments, Frictionless Governance). Each play comes with objectives, actions, metrics, pitfalls, and tools, so you can remove drag, shorten feedback, and scale outcomes without boiling the ocean.
To establish your baseline and track real progress, the book includes a CTO Transformation Assessment across Organization, Technology, and Process with clear maturity rubrics (Low → Elite) and interpretation guidance, so you can see where you are, where to go, and what to do next.
Finally, an Implementation Roadmap (Initiate → Scale → Sustain) helps you fund outcomes (not projects), stand up golden paths and policy-as-code, embed AI where it matters, and make transformation your default operating mode. This is where strategy becomes cadence.
What you’ll achieve as CTO
- Shorten time-to-impact by organizing around value streams and durable product teams.
- Increase safety and speed with a product-managed platform: golden paths, guardrails, instant observability, and embedded AI.
- Steer by outcomes via end-to-end feedback loops and fit-for-purpose metrics.
This is not another framework rollout. It’s a practical playbook for building a living, learning system, an enterprise that senses, decides, and acts faster than its environment changes. If you’re ready to move from slideware to signals, and from projects to persistent outcomes, this book is your next step.
About the Author
Romano Roth is a pioneering thought leader in cybernetic transformation, enterprise evolution, and platform engineering, with over two decades of experience in the technology sector. As the Global Chief of Cybernetic Transformation at Zühlke, Romano shapes the global strategy and service portfolio for cybernetic enterprises, platform engineering, AI integration, and cloud solutions. His visionary approach redefines how organizations innovate, adapt, and scale in industries such as finance, insurance, cybersecurity, energy, healthcare, and aerospace.
In a world reshaped by Artificial Intelligence (AI), Romano believes the key to resilience and competitiveness lies in the transformation toward the Cybernetic Enterprise, a new operating model driven by feedback loops, AI-augmented workflows, and self-learning systems that place customer success at the center. His work empowers companies to continuously create value by harmonizing people, processes, technology, and AI.
Romano began his journey at Zühlke 23 years ago, evolving from software engineer and architect to trusted consultant, and now to his leadership role in cybernetic transformation. His passion for value creation through automation and quality led him from engineering into the DevOps movement and further into the forefront of enterprise transformation.
He is the organizer of the monthly DevOps Meetup in Zürich and the president of DevOps Days Zürich, an annual conference within the global DevOps movement. Romano shares his insights via his YouTube channel, with over 250 videos, and through more than 30 blog articles focused on DevOps, architecture, leadership, and transformation.
His commitment to thought leadership and education extends to his role as a lecturer in DevOps leadership, agile methodologies, digital transformation, and enterprise architecture at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. omano’s work champions a culture of innovation and agility, helping enterprises evolve into adaptive systems capable of thriving in complex, fast-changing environments.