RefactorOps

Michael Smith

I build operating models that make engineering organizations predictable.

Fifteen years leading digital delivery at global agencies and enterprise programs. CTO. Author of The Technical Leader's Field Guide and the forthcoming The Quiet Collapse. Founder of RefactorOps.

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Writing

Practical thinking on engineering leadership and digital delivery.

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June 16, 2026

The Real Cost of Owning a Digital Experience After Launch

The build has a budget. What comes after it usually does not. Here is what it actually costs to own a digital experience after launch.

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June 9, 2026

Your Website Is a Business System, Not a Marketing Artifact

A website can be marketing-led and still be a business system. If it runs your sales pipeline, handles data, and shapes how the market sees you, it deserves more than a brochure-sized operating model.

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May 31, 2026

CMS Selection Is an Operating Model Decision

The right CMS isn't the one with the strongest feature list. It's the one that fits how your organization creates, governs, publishes, and evolves digital experiences.

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Books

The Technical Leader's Field Guide
Available Now

The Technical Leader's Field Guide

A practical field guide for technical leads, architects, and new CTOs who are tired of chaos, vague requirements, and scope creep. Stop being the firefighter. Start being the person everyone trusts.

  • ◆14+ years of real delivery leadership distilled into a framework
  • ◆Scope control, architecture reviews, Definition of Done
  • ◆Built from client work where being wrong costs money
Get it on Amazon
Coming 2026

The Quiet Collapse

An executive-level diagnosis of systemic delivery failure — why capable teams inside organized systems keep producing the same failure patterns, and the structural model that prevents it.

For CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and executives with the authority to change the systems their teams operate inside.

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What People Are Saying

“This is an excellent book. I wish I'd known this stuff when managing projects in my old IT career.”
Principal Technical PM
“Every manager should have a copy on their desk.”
Lead Software Engineer
“A practical, experience-driven guide full of sensible defaults and real-world lessons.”
Senior Engineering Manager
“A great articulation of how to set expectations internally and externally.”
Solutions Architect

Free Templates

The frameworks behind the book — ready to use today.

Definition of Done

Set standards, stop rework.

Download DOD Framework (PDF)

Scope Starter

Systems and scripts to define, defend, and deliver scope with clarity.

Download Scope Starter Kit (PDF)

T‑Minus Tracker

Prevent indecision from killing velocity.

Download T-Minus Template (PDF)

About

Michael Smith

CTO · Author · Engineering Leader

Fifteen years leading digital delivery — from hands-on development through managing 80-person distributed teams across North America and APAC. Fourteen of those years at VML, a $4B WPP global agency, rising to one of four MD-level technology executives in North America. Currently CTO at Imagemakers.

Author of The Technical Leader's Field Guide — a practical playbook for technical leaders in high-pressure environments. Working on The Quiet Collapse, an executive-level diagnosis of systemic delivery failure.

I founded RefactorOps to turn what I've learned the hard way into frameworks and tools other engineering leaders can actually use. Systems scale. Heroics don't.

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Also by RefactorOps

PreflightOps

Delivery intelligence for digital agencies. Scope analysis, delivery risk detection, and methodology resources.

preflightops.com →