In May 2021 I left a Head of Product job to work one quarter at a time. Friends asked when I would get a real job again. Five years and nineteen companies later, this is the most real job I have had, and the most demanding.

What the work actually is

An interim engagement is three days a week for thirteen weeks. In that time I have to understand a company well enough to cut its roadmap, earn the trust of a team that did not choose me, ship something that matters, and hire the person who replaces me. A permanent leader gets a year to do the same.

The compression is the job. I cannot afford a slow first month, so the first two weeks are always the same: an hour with every person in product and engineering, six to nine customer calls, and every roadmap item in one sheet. By day ten I have a written diagnosis, and by week three the board has seen a one-page plan.

How I keep it to two clients

I take at most two clients at once and usually one. Two interim roles would be six days a week, so the second client is always an audit or an advisory hour. I tried three in 2022, for one quarter. Every client got a worse version of me, and one of them noticed.¹

My week: MON Client A on site or in stand-ups · TUE Client A · WED Client A, product review · THU Audit or advisory clients, writing · FRI Advisory sessions, decision logs, admin · · Rule: nothing for Client A after Wednesday unless it is on fire.

If you are fractional in three places, you are a consultant in all of them and a leader in none.

Something I wrote in my 2022 retro

The money, honestly

Interim work pays well per month and badly per year if you are careless. Between engagements there is selling, audits that end early, and the month in August when nobody signs anything. In my first year I billed 7 of 12 months. Now it is about 10, because the advisory clients smooth out the gaps.

If you are starting out: Price the quarter, not the day. A day rate invites the client to count your days. A fixed quarter with an end date keeps everyone focused on what has to be true on day 90.

What I would tell myself in 2021

Write down how every engagement ends before it starts: who you hire, what you hand over, the date you leave. The worst quarter I had was the one without an end date, when a client and I both drifted into a permanent arrangement that neither of us had chosen. It took me two months to leave well. Fractional only works if you mean the fraction.

Notes

The client was kind about it. They extended the engagement by four weeks at my cost, and I have not taken three clients since.