Fractional Head of Delivery
Fractional Head of Delivery
vs a management consultant
A consultant will assess your situation, write up recommendations and hand you a report. A fractional leader joins your team, makes decisions, puts changes in place and is accountable for the results. One tells you what to do; the other does it with you.
Why fractional works
Part of the team
We attend your standups, know your engineers by name, and pick up the context that consultants miss because they're not in the room.
Accountable for outcomes
Consultants deliver recommendations and leave. We're accountable for whether the changes work, and we judge ourselves on your team's results.
We do the implementation
We make the changes ourselves. We build the frameworks, run the processes, and coach your team to keep them going after we step back.
Practical experience
We've been Heads of Product, Heads of Delivery and operational leaders in working companies. Our advice comes from having done the job.
When a consultant might be better
- •Breadth of analytical resources. Large consulting firms can deploy teams with diverse specialisms for large-scale transformation or due diligence projects.
- •External credibility. A big-name consultancy can lend credibility to recommendations when you need buy-in from a board or investors.
- •Defined scope and deliverables. Consulting engagements are typically scoped tightly with clear deliverables, which can be useful for specific analytical or strategic questions.
Choose fractional when
When you need someone to do the work as well as define it, and the problem is execution more than analysis.
Choose a consultant when
When you need a specific analytical deliverable (market analysis, due diligence support or a board-ready strategy document) and you have the internal team to implement the recommendations.