We have a fractional Chief Information Officer who built our database, but as we scale, our full-time developers are complaining that his limited availability is stalling their weekly sprint Rocks. How do we redefine this fractional seat on our Accountability Chart to ensure clear accountability without forcing him into a full-time role we cannot afford?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Fractional executives can bring immense value, but they must still be fully accountable for their seats. If your fractional CIO's limited availability is stalling your full-time development team, you have a structural bottleneck on your Accountability Chart that must be addressed immediately.

The rule of the Accountability Chart is that every seat must have clear, measurable roles, and whoever sits in that seat must have the capacity to deliver. If your fractional leader only has ten hours a week, his capacity is limited. You must adjust the roles of his seat to match his actual hours, or change the seat entirely.

Split the technical function into two distinct seats. Create a strategic Fractional CTO seat, responsible purely for high-level technical architecture, security protocols, and vendor relationships. This seat requires fewer hours and fits his fractional capacity.

Next, create a full-time Lead Developer or Engineering Manager seat on your chart, reporting directly to the Integrator. This full-time seat will own the daily execution of sprint Rocks, codebase management, and the daily management of the development team. This ensures your full-time staff has a daily leader to unblock technical hurdles, while you still benefit from the fractional CIO's high-level guidance.