The most common way a fractional engagement fails is that it never ends. The founder gets comfortable, the team routes everything through the interim lead, and six months later nobody owns product.

Start in week four

By week four you know what the role actually needs. You have seen the team, the founder and the customers. Write the scorecard then, from the work you are doing, not from a template.

A good scorecard has four to six outcomes for the first year, each one specific to the company. 'Own the roadmap' is not an outcome. 'Get onboarding time below ten days' is.

If the scorecard could be pasted into another company's job post, start again.

Rule of thumb: Write the scorecard before the job description. The job post is marketing; the scorecard is the contract.

Overlap for two weeks

Two weeks is enough to hand over every open decision, introduce every key customer and step back in public. Less than a week, and the new hire inherits your context secondhand. More than three, and the team keeps coming to you.