I don’t need a full-time CPO, or can’t justify one: what are the alternatives?

Start by clarifying what you really lack

“We could use a CPO” can mean:

• nobody really sets the product direction;
• there is no clear owner for product decisions;
• nobody turns business objectives into a roadmap;
• the product team lacks capacity;
• a large piece of work needs to move forward;
• the CEO still carries every product decision;
• the company wants to structure the product function before hiring.

Not all of these needs require a full-time CPO.

Option 1: the fractional CPO

A fractional CPO works with you regularly but part-time. This is relevant when you need product leadership over time:

• taking part regularly in trade-offs;
• working with the leadership team;
• supporting the product team;
• overseeing strategy and roadmap;
• gradually helping the organisation mature.

They cover an ongoing leadership function, even if they are only present a few days a month. That is different from a project engagement.

Option 2: the freelance PM

A freelance PM is the right fit when the direction is already clear but execution capacity is missing.

For example:

• running a development team;
• maintaining the backlog;
• preparing topics;
• coordinating a launch;
• temporarily taking over a scope.

If nobody yet really knows what to prioritise, why, or by which criteria, adding a PM does not necessarily solve the problem.

Option 3: the product studio

A studio fits a different situation: you have an important topic to resolve, but you do not need to create a permanent position to do it.

For example:

• rebuilding the roadmap;
• overhauling the product organisation;
• scoping a new product;
• reworking a user journey;
• preparing a launch;
• reconnecting strategy, product and marketing.

The engagement has a start, an end and clearly defined deliverables. The goal is therefore not to replace the CPO permanently.

Option 4: hiring

Hiring becomes the logical choice when the product function needs to be embodied daily and over the long term.

For example:

• several teams need to be led;
• product decisions are continuous;
• product is a strategic function of the company;
• a team needs to be built and managed;
• the role needs to be part of the leadership team.

In that case, outsourcing a structural function indefinitely is not necessarily a saving.

How do you know where you stand?

Ask yourself four questions:

• Is the need permanent or temporary?
• Do we need direction, or mostly execution?
• Is the problem known, or does it still need diagnosing?
• Do we want a person to stay, or a problem to be solved?

This usually separates the four options fairly quickly.

The common case of the CEO who still drives everything

A team can be competent and still move slowly simply because every decision goes back to the same place. In that case, the problem is not necessarily headcount. It can come from:

• poorly defined roles;
• missing decision criteria;
• an overloaded roadmap;
• a lack of delegation;
• decisions nobody is explicitly allowed to make.

Hiring can be an answer. Clarifying the organisation can sometimes solve a large part of the problem before hiring at all.

A typical situation

A team can be competent and still move slowly because every decision goes back to the same place. The CEO arbitrates priorities, validates important choices, rules on customer requests and answers the team’s questions.

The problem then looks like a lack of resources. In reality, it may come from a lack of delegation, unclear roles, or decision criteria that were never formalised. In that situation, hiring one more person is not necessarily the first thing that solves the problem.

At 5LEGS

5LEGS can step in on an ad hoc basis alongside a leadership team on topics that fall within the CPO role. For a recurring need for part-time product leadership, the format is defined case by case: contact us.

We mostly step in when a product topic needs to be taken on and resolved over a short period, generally around 90 days. The studio’s three senior experts work directly on the engagement, covering product strategy, product management and product marketing.

Depending on the problem, a company can also start with:

• CPO Advice;
• PM Advice;
• a Product Organisation Diagnosis at €5,000 excl. VAT;
• or a targeted service from the catalogue.

This can help determine whether the right next investment really is a hire.

In short

You do not need a full-time CPO simply because “the product lacks leadership”.

• Need for regular direction: fractional CPO.
• Need for execution within an existing framework: freelance PM.
• Specific topic to resolve and hand over: product studio.
• Lasting function to build: in-house CPO.

The right solution depends less on the job title than on what you expect to remain six months later.