Code of conduct, terms & privacy

Code of conduct

Respect

The CTO Circle is an encouraging community dedicated to developing the craft of technical leadership. We are an inclusive environment that treats all individuals respectfully, regardless of gender or gender identity (including transgender status), sexual orientation, age, disability, nationality, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), political affiliation, or career path.

We value respectful behavior above individual opinions.

Respectful behavior includes but is not limited to:

Be considerate, kind, constructive, and helpful.
Avoid demeaning, discriminatory, harassing, hateful, or physically threatening behavior, speech, and imagery.
Due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, and traditions of others.

Note: Disrespectful behavior outside this community by active members may be considered a violation of this code of conduct at the administrators' discretion.

Privacy, attribution, and aggregation

Protect IP and legally protected information. This community is not a public space. However, no one has signed a non-disclosure agreement ("NDA") to participate, and you should not presume anything you say here will remain private, so act accordingly.

If you want to disclose any content from a public channel outside this community, including submission to LLMs, we use a modified version of the Chatham House Rule as a guideline:

“Members are free to use information received from public channels, but the individual source of the information may not be revealed.”

For attribution of specific content found in this community on public channels, we ask that you ask the originator of the content for permission. If you don't receive consent promptly, we ask that you credit the "CTO Circle."

Read the room

Once onboard, you will likely find yourself in a popular channel with many members who sound like we've figured it out. We haven't. While advice on one channel might read definitive, it is one member's lessons, interpretation, and learning from their leadership experience.

This is a large community with many different humans populating hundreds of channels. Different channels have organically developed distinct personalities. Before posting in a channel with hundreds of members, we recommend taking the time to read the room.

Specifically:

Read the last couple of days of messages.
Examine the channel topic for helpful tips.
Click on the channel name, read the topic and description (if available).

Important: Posting the same message to multiple channels is spamming. Don't spam.

Not for profit

This community is hyper-allergic to unwanted commercial behavior. If you join this community to take value rather than contribute, the community will quickly notice and react.

Obvious commercial activities such as recruiting, lead generation, marketing, and other solicitation are prohibited except in channels dedicated to that purpose.

If you are wondering if a post is commercially appropriate:

Ask permission from the channel before posting a message that might be considered commercial, stating clear intent for the post.
Listen to the response of your peers in the channel and act accordingly.

Violations: Using member contact information outside this community without permission, emailing members with unsolicited commercial offers, or aggressive message spamming are Code of Conduct violations.

Direct message etiquette

A direct message ("DM") is a private message to one or more other members. Before sending a DM to a member you've never contacted, consider the following:

Is it obvious to the other member why I am contacting them privately? If not, should I provide context, such as a public post?
Could this message be considered unsolicited spam?

Warning: Unsolicited DMs can be Code of Conduct violations, especially those with a commercial flavor.

In-person events

CTO Circle hosts various in-person events including networking meetups, workshops, and conferences. These events are an extension of our online community and follow the same principles of respect and professionalism.

We use your registration details to organise the event and send information about your participation. We may share company and role information with that event's main sponsors, as explained in the privacy notice below.

We may also share your email address with the main sponsors of the specific event if you give separate, optional consent identifying the sponsors and the purpose of their communications. Accepting this code of conduct does not, by itself, authorise sponsor email sharing.

Event behavior guidelines:

Professional conduct: maintain professional behavior appropriate for a business networking environment.
Respect personal space: be mindful of personal boundaries and respect others' comfort levels.
Inclusive participation: ensure all attendees feel welcome and included.
No harassment: any form of harassment, including unwelcome advances, inappropriate comments, or discriminatory behavior, is strictly prohibited.
Business cards & networking: exchange contact information respectfully and only when mutually agreed upon.
Event photography: always ask for permission before taking photos of other attendees.

Reporting: If you experience or witness inappropriate behavior at an event, please report it immediately to event organizers or contact our administrators.

Resolve peacefully

As a leadership community, we believe peer-to-peer discussions, feedback, and corrections can help build a stronger, safer, more informed, and more welcoming community.

If you see someone violating any part of this Code of Conduct, we urge you to respectfully dissuade them from such behavior using specifics from this document as guidelines. Expect that others wish to help keep the community respectful and welcome your input.

If you experience disrespectful behavior toward yourself or anyone else and feel unable or unwilling to respond or resolve it respectfully, please immediately bring it to the attention of an Administrator.

Don't be a troll

A troll is a member who starts flame wars or intentionally upsets other members by posting inflammatory, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages to provoke members into displaying emotional responses and normalizing tangential discussion either for the troll's amusement or a specific gain.

The determination of whether a message is trolling is often a subjective assessment by administrators. If you cannot resolve a situation, trolling can be handled via the Content Review Process.

Content review process

Admins may come across or be notified of content violating the Code of Conduct. In some situations, this may lead to an Administrator deleting the message (or messages) that violate the CoC.

Messages most likely to be deleted are commercial solicitations, disrespectful messages to other members, or links to disturbing or distressing content without appropriate measures to warn of or hide the content.

Ideally, another member will notice this content and contact the original poster, who will modify or delete the message so it is no longer problematic. In this case, no further Administrator action is required.

Administrators

Administrators serve two-year terms with an option for a second term. They are responsible for maintaining the community standards and ensuring all members feel safe and welcome.

If you cannot resolve a situation peacefully, please contact the Administrators. They will seek to resolve conflicts peacefully and in a manner that is positive for the community.

As Administrators, we will seek to resolve conflicts peacefully and in a manner that is positive for the community. This Code of Conduct documents everyday situations we've seen, but we can't foresee every situation.

Terms of participation

Who runs CTO Circle

CTO Circle is operated by TOPUS SOFTWARE SL, Spanish tax ID (NIF) B13660576, at Carrer de la Creu Roja 26, 2º 1ª, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. Contact us at [email protected].

These terms cover our website, community membership and CTO Circle events. Any event-specific conditions, including the organiser, venue, price, capacity and cancellation arrangements, are provided on the relevant registration page.

Membership and events

CTO Circle is a professional community for CTOs and engineering leaders. Please provide accurate registration information and follow the code of conduct when participating online or in person. An application or registration request does not guarantee admission; any required approval is communicated separately.

Community membership is free. Where an event has a ticket price or specific conditions, these must be shown before you register. Members and speakers share their own views; participation does not create a professional advisory relationship with CTO Circle.

We may moderate content or restrict participation to address conduct violations. You can contact the administrators to explain your position or ask for a decision to be reviewed. Nothing in these terms limits rights that cannot be waived under applicable law.

Communications and sponsor choices

We use your contact details to manage the application, membership or event you request, including confirmations, access information and changes affecting your participation.

Sharing your email with an event sponsor requires separate, optional consent. Accepting the code of conduct or these terms does not provide that consent. You may participate without opting in to sponsor emails.

The event sponsor notice explains company and role reports, optional email sharing and how to exercise your rights. Sponsors and external platforms are responsible for their own services and privacy information.

Privacy notice

This notice explains how TOPUS SOFTWARE SL, as the controller, processes personal data for CTO Circle. For privacy questions and rights requests, contact [email protected] or write to the address above.

Information we use and where it comes from

Applications and membership: name, email, professional profile link, company, role, professional experience, application answers, referrals and membership status.
Events: registration details and answers, company and role, attendance, and the choices you make in the registration form. A registration platform may collect additional information under its own notice.
Community and communications: Slack profile and community activity, introductions you participate in, messages you send to organisers, newsletter preferences, and delivery or interaction records provided by the email platform.
Website use: technical request information such as IP address, browser and access logs, and preferences such as the selected display theme.

We receive information directly from you, from event registration platforms such as Luma, from Slack and our email platform Brevo, and from people who refer you. We may check or supplement professional information using public professional profiles, company websites and business information providers such as Apollo. You can ask us which source supplied information about you and request a correction.

Please do not include sensitive personal information in general application fields. If an event needs accessibility or similar sensitive information, the organiser must explain that specific use and the applicable safeguards separately.

Why we use information and the legal bases

Handling your application, membership and event participation: taking steps at your request and providing the service you request (Article 6(1)(b) GDPR), where the information is necessary for that service.
Professional verification, community administration, preventing abuse and handling disputes: legitimate interests in maintaining a relevant, safe professional community and protecting our services and legal rights (Article 6(1)(f)), subject to necessity and a balance with your rights.
The newsletter: your subscription consent (Article 6(1)(a)). It can include community news, events and sponsor placements. You can unsubscribe using the link in an email or by contacting us.
Sponsor reporting and optional email sharing: the purposes and separate legal bases set out in the event sponsor notice below.
Legal obligations: compliance with applicable requirements, including responding to data protection requests and retaining records where legally required (Article 6(1)(c)).

Required application or registration fields are needed to assess or manage your request; without them, we may be unable to process it. Optional marketing choices do not determine whether you can join or attend.

In-person events and main sponsors

We may share participants' company and role with an event's main sponsors before or after the event, to help them understand the audience and plan and evaluate their participation.

The sponsors' legal identities, privacy notices and contact details must be provided when you register. CTO Circle and each recipient act as independent data controllers and may use shared information only for the stated purposes.

Company-and-role reports exclude names, contact details and profile links. Company and role can still identify someone, so identifiable entries are treated as personal data.

The intended basis for these reports is legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR), subject to a documented assessment of necessity and your rights. If anonymous statistics serve the purpose adequately, identifiable entries are not necessary.

Your right to object

You can object on grounds relating to your situation by contacting [email protected] and naming the event. We must stop this use unless overriding compelling grounds or legal claims justify it. You can always object to direct marketing.

Email sharing is optional. With your separate consent (Article 6(1)(a)), we may share your email with the main sponsors named in that choice, for the communications described there. Accepting the code of conduct alone does not authorise this.

You can withdraw consent at any time through [email protected] or contact the sponsor directly. Withdrawal does not affect earlier lawful processing.

Recipients must provide their own privacy information within one month of receiving the data, or before their first communication or further disclosure, whichever comes first.

Who may receive information

Information may be available to authorised CTO Circle organisers and administrators, and to providers supporting hosting, database storage, email, registration, community communication and professional verification. Examples include Luma for registrations, Slack for the community, Brevo for email and Apollo for professional information checks. Their role depends on the service; a platform may also process information for its own purposes under its own privacy notice.

Other members can see information you share with them or publish in community channels. Event sponsors receive information only as described above. We may also disclose information to advisers or competent authorities where necessary for legal obligations or claims.

Professional checks and application review

Application checks may compare your submitted professional profile with provider information and assess whether your current role and professional experience match the community's membership criteria. Automated rules can recommend or apply an approval or decline, or refer incomplete or conflicting information for review.

You can contact [email protected] to correct the information, explain your circumstances, contest an outcome or request human review. A missing provider record is not, on its own, a reason to reject an application.

Your rights and how to contact us

You can request access, correction, erasure, restriction or portability of your personal data where the relevant legal conditions apply. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests, and withdraw consent at any time without affecting its previous lawful use. Direct marketing objections can be made at any time.

Send your request to [email protected], identifying the relevant membership, event or subscription. We may ask for information proportionate to verifying your identity. The normal response period is one month; if the law permits an extension, we must tell you within that first month and explain why.

Where a request concerns information already shared with a sponsor, we must cooperate with that recipient and communicate applicable corrections, erasure or restrictions, unless this is impossible or requires disproportionate effort. On request, we will identify the recipients of your information.

You can complain to the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) or your competent supervisory authority.

Code of conduct,terms & privacy