Two days a week isn't fractional. It's a part-time contractor.
Fractional means paying for ownership of the outcome, not for days in the building. Most offers sold as fractional are priced by the day. Here's how to tell the difference before you sign.
Get the free Field GuideBuy the outcome, not the days. About 30 minutes, by personal link.
One buys days. The other buys the outcome.
Time-based work rewards being busy.
A lot of procurement work goes round in circles. Everyone stays busy, and nobody can say what outcome the work is heading for. Usually because:
- The direction isn't clear
- The executive hasn't decided how to use procurement
- The data is missing
- The analysis never gets done
You pay for that. Without an agreed outcome, the measures the person in the role sets for themselves become the definition of good, and teams can sit in that limbo for years.
Fractional, done properly, starts with the outcome and works back to the effort.
You're buying an outcome, not attendance.
A fractional leader is accountable for direction, decisions and results, the same as a full-time leader would be, and is paid for those. Some weeks that takes an hour. Some weeks it takes four days, within the scope you agreed. You shouldn't have to count the days.
A part-time contractor does the same job as a full-time one, a smaller amount of the time. That's useful when you need hands. It isn't leadership.
| Part-time contractor | Fractional | |
|---|---|---|
| What you're buying | Days in the seat | An agreed outcome, and the decisions behind it |
| How it's priced | Day rate times days | A monthly fee or a price per output, each tied to a stated result |
| Who sets direction | You do, and they follow it | They do, and they answer to you for it |
| A quiet week | You pay for the days anyway | Nobody's counting |
| A crisis week | Extra days, extra invoice | Covered, within the agreed scope. The outcome is what you're paying for |
| How progress is reported | Activity: meetings held, suppliers met | Decisions made and money banked |
| When it ends | The knowledge leaves with them | Your team keeps the playbooks and templates |
Take the days away.
Cross the days out of any proposal. What's left is what you're buying.
What outcome do you own?
And who agreed it? An outcome the CFO signed off is a commitment. One the provider wrote for themselves is a progress report.
What happens to the fee if it doesn't land?
If the answer is "nothing", the risk is all yours.
What stays when you leave?
Playbooks, templates, decisions written down, a team that can repeat it. Or a gap where a person used to be.
Now hold your proposal up to it.
Two quick checks on the offer in front of you. Nothing you enter is saved or sent.
Hold a proposal up against the table.
For each row, pick the side that matches what the proposal on your desk actually says.
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
What do the days cost?
Put in the numbers from the proposal. The defaults are a typical "two days a week" offer.
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Senior judgement, with the outcome owned.
CPO-level direction, and the team to act on it, owned by Ashokk.
Two ways to pay for a Fractional CPO