Services
Fractional CTO and CIO leadership, calmly delivered.
Executive technology leadership means you have a senior technologist accountable for the decisions that shape how your firm runs: roadmap, budget, vendor selections, hiring, tradeoffs. You do not carry a full-time CTO on payroll to get it. The outcome is a technology function that supports the business, communicates in plain English to the partnership or board, and can defend every material decision with reasoning that holds up in a year.
How we run it
Four phases, applied to this practice
Phase 1
Discovery & Audit
We start with a listening tour across leadership, operations, IT, and the people doing the work. We inventory systems, contracts, and open initiatives, then produce a written read-out of what is working, what is not, and where money is quietly leaking.
Phase 2
Architecture & Design
From that baseline we author a multi-year technology roadmap: the platforms to keep, the ones to replace, the sequence, and the honest cost. It is short enough to read in one sitting and specific enough to be operational.
Phase 3
Build, Integrate & Automate
We sit inside your leadership rhythm: partner meetings, executive team, board reporting. From there we run vendor negotiations, hiring, and cross-functional projects to the plan. When the plan needs to change, we say so early and in writing.
Phase 4
Train, Measure & Refine
Every quarter we measure against the roadmap: what shipped, what slipped, what the shift cost or saved. Leaders get a one-page executive update, and the roadmap gets revised rather than rewritten from scratch.
What this looks like in practice
Recent work and field notes
Case studies and field notes on how this plays out inside professional-services firms.
Article
Bringing systems and platform management in-house
Bringing technology management in-house puts technical resources next to the work — platform-agnostic, layered onto any vertical, without runaway investment.
ReadArticle
The quiet cost of good-enough systems
Every firm carries the weight of decisions made on a Tuesday afternoon. Here is how to tell which ones are worth revisiting — and which ones to leave alone.
ReadCase Study
From a Notion ticketing system to a 10-person technology team
How a firm's technology function grew from one person and a Notion ticketing system into a ten-person team covering helpdesk, data, security, identity, infrastructure, and AI.
Read
Engagement models
How this work is scoped
Model
Fractional Leadership
The default fit. An ongoing seat at the leadership table with a clear scope of decision rights.
Model
Audit & Roadmap
Right when you need an outside view before a big investment, hire, or replatform.
Model
Project Delivery
Uncommon here, because leadership work is continuous. We package it as a project only for a defined replatform or turnaround.
FAQ
Questions we answer often
How is a fractional CTO different from a technology consultant?
A consultant produces recommendations; a fractional CTO owns the decisions. We sit in your leadership meetings, sign off on architecture, negotiate vendor contracts on your behalf, and are accountable for the outcome, not only for the deck we hand over.
How many hours a week or month does this typically take?
Most law-firm and growing-business engagements land between 20 and 60 hours a month, with more concentrated weeks around a rollout, negotiation cycle, or planning window. We agree on a shape at the start and revisit it every quarter.
Do you replace our internal IT team?
No. We work with your existing IT lead, ops manager, and help-desk vendor, and give them air cover, architecture, and prioritization. When the team is ready to hire in-house leadership, we help write the role and interview candidates.
How do you report to a board or executive committee?
One page per quarter. Roadmap progress, spend against plan, risks with owners, and the two or three decisions that need executive input. Extra detail lives in an appendix and is only read when someone wants it.
Can you help us evaluate whether to hire a full-time CTO?
Yes. That is one of the most common outcomes of a longer engagement. We help write the role, structure the compensation, interview candidates, and hand over cleanly when the right person is hired.
Considering this work for your firm?
Drew replies personally within three business days.
Other practice areas