Fractional: what it is and what it isn’t
People keep asking me what fractional actually means.
The word now gets stretched over everything from a CFO two days a week to a contractor who’d rather not work Fridays.
This is how I’d put it:
What it is:
- A senior person, principal to C-suite, someone who has already solved the problem in front of you, somewhere like yours, working with you one to three days a week for as long as the work needs.
- They own an outcome, they bring judgement your team doesn’t have yet, and they can start in weeks rather than after a three-month search.
What it isn’t:
- Only for the C-suite. Most of the fractional conversation is about the CFO or CTO two days a week. It works just as well a level or two down: a principal architect, a program director, a head of data.
- A part-time job. They’re not headcount- no recruitment cycle, no line to manage. They answer to one sponsor and skip the meetings that don’t need them.
- Full-time output at a discount. Two days a week buys two days, from someone who knows where to spend them.
- Advice from a distance. They’re in the work with your people every week, and accountable for where it lands.
- A premium rate. The day rate is what that person would cost on contract. You just buy fewer days.
- A lock-in. Most run month to month, and if it turns out you need them full time, that conversation is easy to have.
Where it fits:
Usually when the gap is judgement rather than headcount. A first CPS 230 cycle. A platform migration that needs a chief engineer two days a week, not five. A program that’s drifting and needs someone who has turned one around before.
If you know exactly what to do and just can’t staff it, that’s a contract role (and we support those too).
Meet the panel
The SHP panel is online at the Fractional Front Door: senior technology, data and delivery people, principal to C-suite, each one someone I’ve worked with or who comes vouched for by people I trust. What each of them delivers, indicative day rates, and our terms, printed up front so nobody has to ask.