Tags: fractional, leadership, burnout, project management
As a soloist, and as a contractor of whatever label, you can’t be a team.
I was chatting with a fellow fractional CTO recently. He’s in that “fractional founding engineer” mode with a client. He’s been working on a complex project for about 9 months, delivering functionality with many moving pieces and various unknowns due to external dependencies.
The required functionality is delivered. It’s ready to go live in production. But there’s at least one hard-to-reproduce bug he hasn’t managed to narrow down. And he knows there’s going to be a constant stream of painful-to-diagnose production logs he’ll be asked to dig into.
This has been burning him out for months. He’s in a weird state where he can’t put full days into this work. He keeps getting distracted with other stuff. The thought of spending time waiting and watching for issues to pop up is draining.
As the creator, you’ve built this thing. But now it needs someone to operate it, to find those hidden bugs, to keep it running smoothly. That’s a different kind of work. And it might not be the work that energizes you.
Some folks thrive on this part. We love finding and squashing those elusive bugs. We’re the operators, and we’re often wired differently from the creators.
As a fractional leader, you’ve got to recognize where your strengths lie. Are you more builder or fixer? You can’t be both on every project, and definitely not at the same time. Not without paying a price. Trying to be both is often a fast track to burnout.
When you’re a full-time employee, you might get stuck with both roles. It’s why teams exist—to spread that load across people with different skills and experiences. But as a soloist, as a fractional leader, you can’t be a team. And you don’t own the thing you built.
You’ve reached your milestone. The functionality is delivered. It’s time to pivot. But pivoting doesn’t just mean “leave or stay.” It means recognizing what phase you’re in and acting accordingly. Maybe that’s a support retainer with you in an advisory role. Maybe it’s helping the client transition to an internal team. Or maybe it’s time to step back entirely.
This is the job, even if no one told you. Your role isn’t just building—it’s also guiding the client to know when they need someone else. Even if you’re not the one making the hire, you’re the one holding the clarity.
Remember: As a fractional leader, your job isn’t to do everything. It’s to bring your expertise to the right problems at the right time. You can’t be a team. But you can be a damn good soloist who knows when to bring in the band.
What this post doesn’t cover—but what every fractional needs to learn—is that helping the client understand when your job is changing or ending is part of the job. Otherwise, they’ll keep expecting you to be the team.
Are you a fractional leader in a different field? Does this resonate with you? I’d love to hear your stories and perspectives. How do you navigate these transitions in your work?
Struggling with the transition from builder to advisor in your fractional role? You’re not alone. I’ve been there, and I’ve been having these conversations with other fractional leaders a lot lately.
If you want to talk through your specific situation, let’s grab a virtual coffee. No pitch, no pressure—just a conversation about the real challenges of fractional leadership.
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