Fractional CTOs bring innovation to your company and experience to your software development and architecture teams. Companies that rely on technology to be competitive make a common mistake. They wait for their development teams to come up to speed on new technologies, methodologies, and processes. There is an assumption that the way to bring in new technologies is to brute force through the learning curve and gain the necessary experience one day at a time. Regrettably, competitive business environments don't wait for "one day at a time". This approach brings about management agitation due to missed market opportunities, slipping deadlines, increased production issues, and frustration with the team. This happens consistently with the [...]

Most consulting firms do their statement of work and their projects on a per hour basis. They tell you how many hours they think the project will take, a blended set of rates and that they will do demos every two weeks so you stay on the same page. That all seems fine until you start thinking about what you, as the customer, are paying for. You are paying for hours, not deliverables. It seems wrong on many levels. Primarily, it is wrong because both the consulting firm and your organization will spend the next few months discussing (arguing) the hours being billed. All the while, the team back at the consulting firm [...]