The interim CTO is an interim manager who assumes the role of CTO within an organization for a specific period of time.
For the sake of completeness, let us recall the various names of the function:
- Transitional CTO
- Transitional Chief Technical Officer
- Transitional R&D Director
The technology sector is by nature in constant motion. Its added value is based on innovation. Today, however, skills are increasingly difficult to find in a shifting tech job market. In this context, the company's IT R&D function can be weakened. The interim CTO has become a quick and quality solution to secure it.
Alan Daifuku, Associate Director Personal Data/IT at IMfinity, gives his vision of the interim CTO (Chief Technical Officer) profession.
Alan Daifuku: "It's obvious to say it, but let's not forget that the IT sector is an innovation economy. With a lot of competition, the regular delivery of new solutions or improvements to existing products is the sine qua non forsecuring a profitable market share. The sector is under constant pressure. If we look at the software world, for example, it is dominated by an ever faster delivery logic and ever shorter development cycles.
Today, a development must be completed in 6 months at the most, sometimes in just a few weeks. In addition to the pressure from customers, there is also pressure from the sales departments, which are eager to sell new features. The performance of R&D teams is therefore crucial. However, the availability of quality profiles for IT R&D can be very uncertain, which is a risk for the company. "
" To put it simply, there are two types of market. The market for executives with more than 15 years' experience and the market for younger executives. The first is marked by a fairly high degree of stability, with few executives seeking to change jobs. The resource is therefore scarce. Among the youngest, the situation is the opposite, with a high turnover. Most often, young developers do not stay more than 2 years in the company.
We are therefore witnessing two opposing trends: status quo for experienced employees, great volatility for people at the beginning of their careers. The search for skills is therefore complex at all levels and companies are forced to manage frequent turnover in R&D teams. This can have an impact on project management, delivery times and even the quality of deliverables. "
"In a rigid or uncertain IT talent market, there are many situations that can be solved by bringing in a transitional CTO. Here are some of them:
- Ensuring the continuity of R&D activities in the event of a CTO vacancy, following a departure, pending recruitment.
- Mentoring a company executive who is about to take over the business to help him or her develop his or her skills, e.g. in the case of a new position.
- Taking charge of the start of a project: defining the scope of the project by defining the list of functionalities to be developed, bringing in a seniority that is lacking, setting up the team, putting in place ad hoc processes such as Agile or Design Thinking methods, ensuring that the development teams use good practices...
- Putting a project in difficulty back on track: diagnosing the situation, reviewing the scope of the project, re-evaluating the solutions chosen, redefining the interface and the ergonomics of the solution, re-mobilising the teams, adapting them if necessary...
- Audit and review development processes, technologies used...
I'd also like to point out, because this is of the utmost importance in R&D, that an interim manager always carries out his assignment with the strictest confidentiality. "
" The spectrum is wide. The transitional CTO can intervene in all IT innovation subjects and lead projects of varying scope and nature: data processing, connected objects, software solutions, e-commerce, etc. He or she is operational in all sectors of activity: publishing, video games, financial services, the pharmaceutical industry, automobile or aeronautical construction, etc., and is equally effective in tech start-ups, SMEs and large groups .
"At IMfinity, all the associate directors are experts in their field and market. As far as I'm concerned, I've worked for both large companies and smaller structures, and in R&D in particular. So I'm well acquainted with our customers' needs, and have a wide network of contacts at my disposal to mobilize the right profile for each assignment. "
" The transitional CTO comes from the IT R&D sector. In addition to his seniority, he brings a diversity of experience, expertise and projects carried out in companies of various sectors and sizes. They are able to assess the technical quality of a development, the relevance of technological solutions or methods used. If he or she proposes changes, he or she knows how to carry out the changes and convince the company of their value.
He is also a seasoned manager capable of reorganising, recruiting and remobilising teams in a highly volatile market that he knows perfectly well.
Essential point: fully integrated into the company, he/she implements from the inside the roadmap established with the company and ensures the total transmission of his/her contribution (technologies, knowledge, analysis of market solutions, networks, project management methodologies) to the CTO who will take over, as well as to the company's team and management. In the IT sector, this is a particularly strategic dimension.
Finally, I'd like to add that at IMfinity we make a point of educating and training our staff in the unique posture of the interim manager. We place particular emphasis on humility, empathy and flexibility. "
Author: Alan Daifuku
Associate Director of DPO/IT.
