How it works
Fractional, or advising.
The difference is who's accountable for the roadmap. In a fractional engagement, that's me. In advising it stays with you, and I'm the outside read. Either way, you're not paying me to learn what a load tender is.
The two engagements
Ongoing · 1–2 days/week
Fractional product management
I'm accountable for what gets built. In practice that's two days a week in your tools, in your meetings, writing the specs.
- Two weeks of audit before I touch the roadmap.
- A roadmap with the reasons attached, so your engineers can push back on it.
- Written down as we go, so it survives me leaving.
Ongoing
Advising
You stay accountable. I'm the person you call before you commit a quarter of engineering time.
- A standing call, usually every other week.
- You send me the roadmap and I mark it up.
- Help with discovery, so you're not validating a feature with four friendly customers.
Inside a fractional engagement
Weeks 1–2
The audit
I spend the first two weeks in your tickets, your support queue, and a lot of calls. I'm looking for where product decisions actually get made, which is rarely where the org chart says. You get a short write-up at the end. Some of it you won't like.
Ongoing · 1–2 days/week
Running the roadmap
I write the specs and make the calls nobody else wants to make. I'm in your planning, I'm talking to your customers, and I write things down. If you want to override me, that's fine, you own the company.
Built in from day one
Working myself out of a job
The goal is that you need me less over time. Decisions get written down with the reasoning, not just the outcome, so whoever takes this over isn't starting from a blank page.
Is this you?
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You're building software for freight, procurement, inventory, or fulfillment, and nobody on the team has run that operation.
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Your engineers are shipping steadily and you're not sure they're shipping the right things.
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You tried hiring a head of product and it didn't take.
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There's an AI feature on the roadmap because the board asked for one.
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You need someone to own product decisions, but not for forty hours a week.
What it costs
A full-time head of product at a Series A or B company runs $250,000 to $350,000 a year before equity and benefits. That's the comparison, and it's the reason most of the companies I talk to aren't ready to make the hire.
A fractional engagement is a flat monthly fee for one or two days a week. Advising is less, because it's less of my time. I'll give you a real number on the first call, and we scope it before anything starts, so nothing shows up on an invoice you didn't agree to.
What I don't do
Being clear about this saves us both a call:
- I don't manage your engineers or run engineering.
- I'm not a dev shop. My job ends at what gets built and why. Your team (or your contractors) build it.
- I won't tell you your AI feature is a good idea because the board wants one.
Questions I get
What's the difference between fractional and advising?
Accountability. Fractional means I own the roadmap and the decisions. Advising means you own both and I'm the outside read.
How fast can you start?
Depends what I've got in flight. I'll give you a real date on the first call.
Do you only work in supply chain?
It's where I'm fastest, because I don't need the vocabulary explained. I've worked outside it, and the product work is the same. The ramp is just longer.
How long does an engagement usually run?
We scope it before anything starts. Fractional work tends to run until the roadmap and the process can stand on their own, and advising is usually open-ended.
Do you work through our contracts and sign NDAs?
Yes to both.
Not sure which one you need?
That's usually the first ten minutes of the call.