Field Guides · From That Procurement Project

For the people who carry the number.

Two guides for executives deciding how to get value from procurement: what it should deliver, and how to buy the expertise to get it. Each takes about 30 minutes and comes with tools you can use on your own numbers.

Written for
CEOs, CFOs, PE executives and founders
Each guide
About 30 minutes, with tools you can use on your own numbers
How to get it
A personal link from Ashokk, usually within a day
Cost
Free. No list, no sequence
The guides

Read the one that matches the decision in front of you.

Field Guide 01

Find the value before you hire the people.

By Ashokk N Menon · For CEOs, CFOs, PE executives and founders · About 30 minutes

Most businesses use procurement to process purchases and negotiate prices, and leave most of the value untouched. This guide shows how to judge procurement by the value it finds, how fast that value arrives, and how much of it finance can see in the P&L. Then how to resource it, before you write the job ad.

Questions it answers

  • Where is the value, and how quickly can we capture it?
  • How much of it actually reaches the bottom line?
  • Do we need a hire, interim cover, a fractional CPO or a team?

Inside

  • Part 1 · What procurement should deliver
  • Part 2 · Why the value doesn't arrive
  • Part 3 · How to resource it
  • Part 4 · If you'd rather buy than hire
  • Appendix · The eight resourcing cards

Tools you can use

  • Where is your value getting stuck?
  • Which questions could your procurement leader answer today?
  • Hire, or bring in a team?
  • Is the new hire on track at day 90?
Request the full guide
Field Guide 02

Buy the outcome, not the days.

By Ashokk N Menon · For CEOs, CFOs, PE operating partners and founders · About 30 minutes

Most requests for procurement help start with days: a contractor two days a week. Days settle how much of someone you get, not what they're responsible for. This guide shows what the day rate leaves out, what fractional actually means, and how to check a proposal before you sign.

Questions it answers

  • I've been asked to approve a contractor two or three days a week.
  • What does a contractor really cost us?
  • Do we need a contractor, an interim or fractional?
  • There's a fractional proposal on my desk.

Inside

  • Part 1 · The habit
  • Part 2 · What it really costs
  • Part 3 · What fractional actually means
  • Part 4 · How to buy it
  • Before you sign · Five questions
  • Appendix · The checklist and an example scope

Tools you can use

  • What do the days cost?
  • Contractor, interim or fractional?
  • Check the proposal before you sign
Request the full guide
Benchmark · Shared on request

What a result really costs.

One sourcing project, five ways to buy it · Based on TPP engagement data, 2025 to 2026

An outcome-led sprint team, a shadow team, a consulting firm, a contractor and an employee, compared on what each costs, how fast the savings start and when it pays back. The day rate is only part of the answer.

Request the benchmark
How it works

Ask, and Ashokk sends you a link of your own.

Tell us your name, work email and what you're working on. Your personal link works for 7 days. Your details go to Ashokk and nowhere else.

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