83: Are We Building the Right Things? A CTO’s Guide to Influence, Ethics, and Responsible Innovation

8 snips

Feb 17, 2026

Joe Thompson, CTO at Hedgehog Lab and champion of design-led, ethical product development. He discusses starting with user research, how software can become people’s work environment, accessibility and exclusion in digital transformation, dark patterns and surveillance-funded models, and practical ways to raise ethical questions and align technology with values.

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ANECDOTE

When A Tool Becomes Someone's Workplace

Joe described a SaaS tool used daily by a few thousand people that became their primary work environment.
He felt responsible because users had little choice and the system was mandated on them.

ANECDOTE

Save The Children Shifted His Purpose

Working with Save the Children on fintech for the developing world changed Joe's sense of purpose.
That project showed technology can improve people's lives beyond easier, faster, cheaper.

INSIGHT

Make Accessibility Nonnegotiable

Accessibility is often deprioritized as an afterthought despite being easy to include.
Make accessibility part of acceptance criteria, not a later phase.

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Today, I sit down with fellow technology leader Joe Thompson, to examine how ethical technology leadership shows up in the smallest day-to-day decisions, not the mission statements. A CTO mindset shifts once it becomes clear that the products being shipped shape how people work, think, and feel long after the roadmap is finished. Responsibility enters the work through a design-led lens that starts with user research and carries through product strategy grounded in usability, accessibility, and cognitive load.

Earlier in my career, optimizing metrics felt sufficient. That belief changed after seeing software become a primary work tool for thousands of people who had little choice but to live inside it every day. Tech for good emerges here as a leadership posture rather than a side initiative, rooted in intention, influence, and awareness. Digital transformation sharpens that responsibility further, with the power to narrow or expand who technology truly serves as analog channels steadily disappear.

If you’re navigating scale, pressure, and trade-offs as a technical leader, this episode is an invitation to slow down, ask better questions, and lead with impact rather than assumption.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[03:01] Why design-led products start with user research, not features

[04:27] How optimizing for one metric creates invisible usability and accessibility debt

[07:12] When you realize your software becomes someone’s full-time work environment

[23:04] Why teams ship products without thinking through real-world user impact

[29:18] How engagement algorithms shape behavior and quietly reward harmful patterns

[31:07] What ethical leadership looks like without lecturing or moral grandstanding

[35:02] Why AI feels revolutionary while productivity barely moves

[42:21] Where tech leaders should start when thinking about impact and responsibility

[47:00] How values, influence, and intent guide better technology decisions

Resources Mentioned:

No Silver Bullet Essence - Accident in Software Engineering by Brooks F. | Article

You can connect with Joe and his work through his LinkedIn here.

Find more from Adam on LinkedIn and YouTube, and explore coaching, cohorts, and how you can stay up to date at theCTOplaybook.com, helping you build your own playbook for your path at your pace.