When it makes sense
Usually when product decisions have outgrown the people making them. The roadmap has turned into a list of requests from whoever asked last. The founder or CTO is acting as product owner and losing most of their week to it. Engineering ships steadily and the numbers don’t move. Or a product lead has left and the work is now spread across people who already have full jobs.
You could hire a permanent head of product, and eventually you probably should. But it’s a slow hire, an expensive one, and easy to get wrong before you know what the role really needs. A fractional lead covers the gap properly in the meantime, and by the end you’ll know what to hire for.
What we do
We own the roadmap and the prioritisation process. We work directly with engineering, design, compliance and the commercial side, set a short list of priorities tied to business outcomes, and make the trade-offs that keep the product focused.
Your team keeps running its own day-to-day work. We don’t micromanage. We expect clear reporting, and we step in when something is actually off track.
What you get
A roadmap the team can actually deliver, ranked against real capacity, and one agreed way of deciding new requests. Measurement on the work that matters. A short written update every week and a review against the agreed goals every month. And when we step back, a product function that keeps running without us.
Format
Typically two to three days a week, on a rolling monthly basis, with a minimum of three months. The first month is mostly understanding, the second direction, the third delivery against the new priorities. From there it scales up, down, or hands over to a permanent hire.
Questions
Will you work inside our tools and team?
Yes. We use your ticketing, documentation and communication tools, join the meetings that matter, and work alongside your people as part of the team.
How do we measure whether it’s working?
We agree two or three business outcomes at the start, and report against them every month. Shipping features doesn’t count on its own.
Can you help us hire a permanent head of product?
Yes. By the end of an engagement we usually know exactly what that role needs, and we can help write the brief and assess candidates.