What a fractional brief has to contain
- The problem in one sentence, stated as a situation rather than a role. Not 'we need a CFO' but 'we cannot forecast cash past a quarter and there is a raise in April'.
- The decision you want made. Fractional people are hired to decide, not to advise. Name the decision and it filters out everyone who wants a consulting engagement.
- What success looks like in ninety days, as something checkable. A board pack that survives diligence. A channel plan with numbers against it. A security questionnaire answered.
- The days a week and the pattern. One day a week is a different job from three, and a fixed Tuesday is a different job from flexible time.
- Who they will work with and who they report to. A fractional executive with no internal counterpart spends their engagement chasing information.
- What is genuinely not in scope, which is more useful than another line about what is.
What to leave out
Years of experience as a threshold. It selects for age rather than for the thing you need, and at this level almost everybody clears any number you write down.
A list of sectors. Sector knowledge matters far less than stage knowledge at senior level. Someone who has taken three companies from your revenue to the next one will help you more than someone who has spent fifteen years in your industry at a size you will never be.
Culture language. A person who is in the building one day a week is not going to change your culture and should not be hired to.
A brief that works, as a template
- Situation: we are at roughly two million in revenue, growing, and the numbers we run the business on are rebuilt by hand each month.
- Decision needed: whether our margin by product line is what we think it is, and what changes if it is not.
- Ninety days: a monthly pack that closes in five working days and that a board would accept without a call.
- Commitment: two days a week to start, likely one after the first quarter.
- Working with: the founder, a part-time bookkeeper, and a head of operations.
- Not in scope: raising the round. We will talk about that separately if this works.
Why the ninety-day line matters more than the rest
It is the only sentence in the brief that both sides can be wrong about in public. A candidate who reads it and says the timeline is unrealistic has told you something useful before you have paid anybody. A candidate who agrees to anything has told you something too.
It also converts the engagement from an open-ended retainer into something with a review date, which protects you far more than a notice period does.
Questions
- How long should a fractional executive brief be?
- Half a page. A fractional brief that runs to three pages is usually a job description in disguise, which means it was written for a permanent hire and will attract people who want one.
- Should a fractional brief include the day rate?
- Include the days a week and the budget range, yes. Withholding it wastes the time of everyone whose rate is outside it, including yours. On this site every seat carries a published band, so the number is usually known before anyone writes to you.
- What is the difference between a fractional brief and a job description?
- A job description describes a role somebody will hold for years and lists responsibilities. A fractional brief describes a problem somebody will resolve in a defined period and names the decision they are being hired to make.