From a Notion ticketing system to a 10-person technology team

Every growing firm hits the same wall: technology stops being something one capable person handles on the side and becomes something the whole business depends on. Most firms cross that line without noticing — until the requests pile up, the systems sprawl, and nobody owns the whole picture.

This is the story of building a technology function the right way: starting with a simple ticketing system in Notion and growing, deliberately, into a ten-person team that runs everything a modern firm needs.

Start with a system, not a hire

The instinct when work piles up is to hire. The better first move is to build a system, because a system shows you what to hire for.

We started with a ticketing system in Notion: a single place where anyone in the firm could submit a request, with templates, defined service levels, and a clear lifecycle so nothing got lost and requesters stayed informed. That did two things. It immediately made support reliable instead of ad hoc — and it generated data. Once every request lived in one place, the patterns were obvious: what kinds of work came in, how often, and where the real demand was. That evidence is what justified each subsequent hire, instead of guessing.

Grow the team around the work, not the org chart

From one person, the team grew to ten — and each role answered a real, demonstrated need rather than a theoretical box on a chart.

The scope a modern firm actually requires is broad. On any given week the team covers the full range: break/fix support and password resets at one end, and at the other, data analytics and dashboard building, API and system configuration, equipment procurement and endpoint security, identity management, infrastructure and technology capital planning, vendor contract negotiation, data governance, AI process and system implementation, data migration and hygiene, employee onboarding and offboarding, and even HRIS management and bonus payroll processing. The ticketing data is what made it legible — you could see the helpdesk load justify a support hire, the reporting requests justify a data analyst, and so on.

The fractional-leadership lesson

You don't need a full-time CTO and a built-out department to start. You need someone who can stand up the system, read the signal, and grow the function in step with the business.

That's the heart of fractional technology leadership: build the lightweight structure first (a ticketing system, clear processes, a way to see demand), then scale the team against evidence rather than budget guesses. It keeps technology spend honest — every role earns its place — and it means the firm's technology capability grows with the firm instead of lurching to catch up after something breaks.

What good looks like

A firm where any request has a front door. A team whose shape matches the firm's real needs. And technology that spans the unglamorous (password resets) to the strategic (capital planning and AI) without dropping either. It didn't start with a big budget or a grand reorg. It started with one person, a ticketing system, and the discipline to grow against the evidence.

How do you start building a technology team at a firm?

Begin with a system, not a hire. A ticketing system with templates and service levels makes support reliable and generates the data that shows you which roles you actually need — so you scale against evidence instead of guesses.

What does a firm's technology team cover?

At maturity, far more than helpdesk: data analytics and dashboards, security and identity, infrastructure and procurement, vendor and contract management, data governance, AI implementation, onboarding/offboarding, and sometimes HRIS and payroll support.

Do we need a full-time CTO?

Not to start. Fractional technology leadership can stand up the structure, read the demand signals, and grow the function in step with the business — keeping technology spend disciplined while capability scales.