Posted by: Adam Weston
07 April 2025
The truth? CMOs don't care about dev team performance. Not directly, anyway.
When you're responsible for growth, engagement and brand leadership, you're not obsessing over the sprint velocity or how clean the codebase is. You're asking questions like:
- Will the website launch on time—before the campaign drops?
- Can we roll out the new customer portal feature before the next board meeting?
- Why is that product page still not live after two weeks?
- What's blocking the new personalisation tool from going live?
These aren't technical questions—they're business performance questions. But more often than not, the answers lie in how well your dev team operates.
The Client vs the CMO
Here's the contrast.
The Client (the company) wants measurable, trackable performance, with internal stakeholders, Product Owners, CTOs and Digital Ops tracking uptime, deployment frequency, bug rates and ticket velocity.
The CMO, on the other hand, is looking at outcomes:
- How fast can we respond to market opportunities?
- Can we personalise content at scale without jumping through dev hoops?
- How agile are we in launching a new microsite, campaign or UX flow?
The gap between dev performance and marketing outcomes is where frustration can grow, or where real partnership thrives.
Why CMOs should start caring (a bit more)
You don't need to micromanage your dev team, but you should care about:
Lead times and bottlenecks
If every campaign depends on a bottlenecked dev team, your agility suffers. Are your systems and teams set up for rapid marketing enablement?
Deployment capability
If you can't push a homepage update without a release train and three levels of QA, you're not going to win the speed game.
Digital infrastructure
CMOs who invest in flexible CMS, design systems and headless architecture enable their teams to move faster—with or without dev involvement.
How to align with your development team
Do you want your dev team to perform better for marketing? Start with this:
- Create shared goals: Align on KPIs that matter to both sides—feature release velocity, campaign support SLAs or digital NPS scores.
- Ask better questions: Move beyond "Is it done?" to "What's blocking us?" or "How can we scale this?"
- Use the right tools: Whether it's a composable system like Umbraco or a more responsive development partner, invest in tech and teams that empower marketing speed.
Final thought
CMOs don't need to become tech experts, but they do need dev performance literacy. When your next big opportunity hits, the ability to move fast isn't just a dev problem; it's your competitive edge.
You don't need to manage your dev team, but you do need them aligned with your revenue goals.
At Growcreate, we bridge the gap between code and conversion. Because dev performance isn't just about clean releases; it's about marketing efficiency, better campaigns and faster ROI.
FAQs for CMOs
It depends on your CMS setup and how your platform is structured. With GrowCreate's Composable CMS and modular design systems, your marketing team can launch campaign pages in hours—not days—without waiting for dev time.
If you need a developer to update content or change layouts, it's a sign your CMS isn't working for marketing. GrowCreate simplifies publishing workflows with editor-friendly content platforms that reduce dependencies and speed up turnaround.
Yes—with the right integrations. GrowCreate builds headless and composable architectures that connect your CMS, CRM, and data layer, giving you the power to personalise experiences without lengthy dev cycles.
With GrowCreate's support and continuous improvement model, yes. We align dev priorities with marketing objectives, ensuring rapid iteration through our digital support partnerships.
Poor UX or technical debt can cause leaks in your funnel. GrowCreate ensures your site is optimised, fast, and conversion-focused, using ongoing performance audits and CRO support as part of our retained services.
Absolutely—with the right DevOps processes. GrowCreate delivers rapid deployment, version control, and automated testing through our DevOps and CI/CD workflows, so your marketing experiments launch faster and safer.
Yes—and it's preventable. We prioritise marketing-critical tasks in our support SLA agreements, reducing time-to-market and helping your team capitalise on high-value opportunities without dev bottlenecks.
Very—when it's built on scalable cloud platforms. GrowCreate specialises in Microsoft Azure infrastructure with autoscaling, CDN integration, and load testing to ensure your site stays performant under pressure.
With GrowCreate, yes. We provide a dedicated support model with responsive SLAs, proactive communication, and launch support built around your key campaign dates—not just development timelines.
Focus on KPIs that reflect marketing success: launch velocity, CRO improvements, content deployment speed, and digital NPS. GrowCreate aligns all of these in our strategic support reviews, so you can see clear ROI from your tech investment.