When Do You Need a Fractional CTO

So, you're in charge of technology at your company and the board has just dropped a huge initiative on your plate. Maybe they are interested in some new tech like Augmented Reality, IoT, or maybe its implementing microservices to enable scale.

 Hopefully they've given you a budget, but the fact is your team is already doing everything they can just to keeping things humming along. You don’t have the time, or the skill set needed to pull this off but none of that matters. Success is the only outcome possible. It's do or die time.

I hear this story from business leaders all the time. You see no matter how much we try to future proof our applications they eventually need modernized or replaced and companies simply don’t staff for these scenarios. Most internal teams will go through one or two of these major initiatives every 3-5 years. This simply isn't enough to build any relevant expertise. The skills gap and technical debt the IT department has incurred over the years can turn what should be an exciting moment of innovation into a nightmare but to growing breed of Fractional CTOs this is just another Tuesday. 

Now I'm not talking about your typical solutions architect or someone who has spent 20 years in the same technology department. I'm talking about someone with been-there-done-that-at-scale experience. Someone who has owned the design, development, and launch of major technology initiatives, leveraging new technology, across multiple organizations and industries. This is someone who has battle-hardened experience and the foresight to accomplish what others cannot.

You see the traditional playbook says go hire a consulting firm. While that may still be part of the equation its most likely you are going to get someone very technical and super smart as your lead but it’s also likely that they will not have business acumen needed to really help you see around corners.

 You see a good fractional CTO will understand both the business and the technical nuances needed to drive your initiative to a successful outcome. They root themselves in business fundamentals and employ sound technology thought leadership deliver results across 3 dimensions.

Cashflow

Understanding how new technology and modern development techniques can be used to decrease costs while adding new sources of revenue is critical here. You don’t want to just improve on your technology, you want to innovate and transform your business.  

Resources

Having a firm understanding of how to bring together what's available in the market with what you have in place and create delightful outcomes is one of the things that set really good CTOs apart from traditional architects. This provides line of sight into resources and opportunities that may not be obvious to others.

Velocity

A good CTO not only has years of experience to draw from, they come with a network of skilled resources from which they can draw. These include Designers, Growth Hackers, Product Owners and Developers and because they have worked together as a team before they can really accelerate the product development lifecycle and get you to market faster than your competition.

Conclusion

Agencies and traditional consulting firms have their place. I've worked for and with some very excellent people from both worlds in my time. That being said some initiatives need vision with experience and that is where a fractional CTO can bring unprecedented value.