(Spoiler: It’s Not Just Tech)
If the phrase “fractional CIO” sounds mysterious, intimidating, or vaguely robotic, allow us to pull back the curtain.
Being a fractional CIO isn’t about hiding behind dashboards or writing code in a dark corner. It’s about rolling up our sleeves, digging into the messy middle of operations, and helping organizations make smart, mission-aligned decisions about their tech, systems, and knowledge.
Let’s take a little peek into a “typical” day.
🌅 5:00 AM: Quiet Strategy Time
Before the inbox takes over, there’s a magical window of calm.
This is when big-picture thinking happens: outlining a new framework for AI readiness, mapping a blog series, or quietly pondering how to fix that one client’s internal permissions nightmare without triggering a staff revolt.
Also: coffee. Lots of coffee.
☕️ 8:00 AM: Coffee (Again) + Calendar Triage
Now it’s go time. We start the official workday with a review of approximately 37 open threads involving tools, workflows, and slightly panicked questions like:
“Do we need to worry about this security setting in Google Workspace?”
“Why did the fundraising platform suddenly stop syncing with our CRM?”
“Is it normal for SharePoint to send this many emails?”
The answer to the last one: tragically, yes.
🔍 9:30 AM: Knowledge Archaeology
Next up: a KM discovery session with a nonprofit team.
We’re mapping where internal knowledge lives, and spoiler — the answer is:
- In someone’s head,
- In someone else’s inbox,
- And maybe, just maybe, in a file called
Important_Doc_Final_FINAL_V2.pdfsaved to someone's desktop.
We introduce the radical concept of shared folders, consistent naming, and the possibility of actually finding things on purpose.
💻 11:00 AM: CRM Therapy
Now we’re in a call with a purpose-driven org that’s thinking about switching platforms.
We talk them off the ledge of buying yet another new tool — and instead dig into:
- What their current system can do
- Where the breakdowns are
- And whether the issue is the platform, the process, or the training (spoiler: it’s usually training)
Sometimes, the most strategic thing we do is help people not buy software.
🧠 1:00 PM: AI Readiness, But Make It Practical
We hop on with a client curious about AI and wondering if they should launch a chatbot, automate donor emails, or do “something with GPT.”
We slow it down.
We ask about:
- What content they already have
- Whether it’s structured and accessible
- If anyone actually understands how their workflows function
Because AI can’t help if your knowledge is chaos.
We don’t sell AI hype — just practical next steps.
🏃♀️ 2:15 PM: Quick Recharge Break
A brisk walk or a short workout break — not because we’re trying to be influencers, but because we’ve learned the hard way that staring into a screen for 10 hours straight is not a productivity hack.
Back with a clear head and a slightly smug sense of accomplishment.
🛠️ 2:45 PM: Untangling the Tech Stack Spaghetti
We’re working behind the scenes now, auditing tools. The org has 46 logins for 14 people and nobody is quite sure:
- What’s being used,
- Who has access,
- Or whether the intern from 2022 still has admin rights.
We build a clean list, recommend de-dupes, and design a system where people actually know which tool does what.
It’s like KonMari, but for your platforms.
🧾 4:00 PM: Policy Drafting That Doesn’t Make You Cry
Nobody wants to read 40-page IT policies.
So we translate the essentials into plain language:
- How to safely share files
- What to do if your laptop is stolen
- Who approves what tools
- When two-factor authentication isn’t optional (spoiler: always)
We’re not here to be scary. We’re here to make things clear.
🧠 5:30 PM: FireOak Time — The Consultant Becomes the Client
Now it’s time to do our documentation. Or internal project planning. Or blog writing (like this very post). Or anything else consultants beg their clients to prioritize... but secretly dread doing themselves.
We triage internal to-dos, follow up on outreach, tweak our own Airtable views, and wrestle with platform quirks just like everyone else.
Because fractional doesn’t mean we get a break from admin work — it just means we also do it at 6:00 p.m. or during the weekend.
Final Thought: It’s Not About Tech. It’s About Trust.
People think they need a tech expert.
What they really need is a guide — someone who understands tech, sure, but also knowledge, governance, security, and people.
A fractional CIO doesn’t just manage your systems.
They help you lead through uncertainty, untangle the mess, and make decisions that are actually strategic.
Also: we always know when to hit “mute” on a Teams call.
