Is fractional product management right for my business?

If you need an agile, cost effective way to tap into specialized tech product expertise, a fractional approach is great for you!

Fractional product management offers a strategic solution for businesses aiming to optimize their product development without the commitment of a full-time hire. Here's what to keep in mind...

1. Expertise

Hiring fractional product managers allows you to tap into specialized expertise that may not be available internally or hard to find in the market. Whether it's a machine learning or AI product, navigating complex technical requirements, a data-intense product, or a need to fix broken processes, these professionals bring diverse skills to enhance your product strategy.

2. Flexibility

If you have fluctuating product development needs, fractional product managers provides the flexibility to scale resources up or down as required. It ensures you have access to experienced professionals without the long-term commitment. Looking to quickly test out an idea without heavy drag or need assistance with a specific problem like OKR implementation, a fractional product manager could be exactly what you need.

3. Project based initiatives

If you have product needs in a niche area like a machine learning platform product, AI application or something data-intense, you can benefit from a fractional product expert with exactly that experience! Hiring fractionally allows you to gain specific expertise for specific products and allocate your resources efficiently. They will work alongside your team to lead initiatives from conception to post-launch.

4. Fresh Eyes

Fractional product managers will bring fresh eyes and a unique strategic focus to quickly assess your product roadmap, identify bottlenecks, ruthlessly prioritize and establish mechanisms to accelerate your time-to-market. They offer an unbiased third party perspective that could inject renewed focus and momentum to a long-standing pain-point.

5. Cost Efficiency

A senior technical product manager can be prohibitively expensive to hire full-time or strategically unnecessary when you're a new startup, or seeking to test a new market. Fractional product management is a great cost-effective alternative allowing you to pay, only for the hours and expertise needed, reducing overhead costs associated with a full-time employee.

6. Mentorship

You can leverage your fractional product expert to mentor your product team, offer process optimization techniques and coach the team to be more effective. This could range from tactical coaching like backlog management or prioritization and extend to strategic coaching like career growth and influencing without authority.