Something’s on fire, and a senior hire is months away.

If my calendar allows, I can start within days of the fit call and work intensively for up to four weeks: hands-on with your team, with on-call cover in hours we agree. Then the engagement continues at 10 or 20 hours a week until your team owns the result.

Book a 30-minute fit call How it starts

One opening available now

When teams call me in a hurry

Often the person who would normally handle it is stretched too thin, or has just left.

  • “Production keeps breaking, and we can’t find out why.”

    I find what’s actually failing, stop the worst of it, and set up the monitoring, alerts and runbooks so your team sees the next problem before customers do.

  • “A migration or launch is stuck, and the deadline isn’t moving.”

    I work out what’s blocking it, decide with you what to cut or change, and work hands-on with your engineers on the risky parts.

  • “The cloud bill jumped, and leadership wants answers.”

    I find where the money goes, separate the spend growth needs from the spend the design causes, and rank the fixes, so you can answer with facts.

  • “A due-diligence or security review is due, and we’re not ready.”

    I help you answer the technical questions, fix the gaps a reviewer would find first, and write up the architecture so it holds up.

How the first weeks can go

An example, not a fixed plan. Every situation is different, so we shape it together on the fit call and adjust as we learn more. The window can also be shorter.

  1. Days 1–3

    Get oriented, stop the worst

    Access, the people who know the system, and a first look at what’s really going on. The most urgent damage gets contained, and what we learn gets written down.

  2. End of week 1

    A short written plan

    What to fix, in what order, and who on your team owns each part. We also agree what has to be in place before I step back.

  3. Weeks 2–3

    Fix it together

    Hands-on work with your engineers, with on-call cover in the hours we agreed. Someone on your team works alongside me throughout, and we build the runbooks and alerts as we go.

  4. Week 4

    Hand over, then the normal rhythm

    Your team takes over what we built. The engagement continues at 10 or 20 hours a week, and anything still open becomes the first work of the retainer.

What helps from the first day

The faster these are in place, the faster things improve. We’ll work out together what’s realistic on the fit call.

  • Access

    To the code, the cloud accounts and your monitoring, so I can see the problem for myself.

  • Someone to work with

    An engineer on your team who works alongside me and takes over when the intensive weeks end.

  • Room to decide

    Agreement on which calls I can make, and who decides the rest, so urgent decisions don’t wait.

  • Some of your team’s time

    A few sessions with the people who know the system best, mostly in the first days.

Terms

Only when my calendar allows. I take at most two clients, and I don’t offer intensive weeks when a current client could need me in them. The next opening is at the top of this page.

Up to four weeks, as the start of a normal engagement. The window ends on a fixed date we agree up front. After it, the engagement runs at 10 or 20 hours a week, and I’m no longer on call or on the path of your releases.

A higher rate for intensive and on-call hours. After the free 30-minute fit call, I send you a written quote with the hours, the on-call cover and the rates. I work from Slovenia (CET); on-call cover can extend beyond my working hours by agreement.

The rest of the terms are the usual ones. The first month is committed; after that, change the hours or stop with 2 weeks’ notice. Engagements last six months at most and end with a handoff to someone on your team.

Pricing and full terms on the homepage

Common questions

Can you start this week?

If I have an opening (it’s at the top of this page), we can usually start within days of the fit call. If I don’t, I’ll tell you on the call, and where I can, point you to someone who can help sooner.

What if it isn’t fixed in four weeks?

The intensive window still ends on the agreed date, so it doesn’t quietly turn into an open-ended contract. Whatever is left becomes the first work of the regular engagement at 10 or 20 hours a week, carried day to day by the engineer who worked alongside me.

How much does it cost?

Intensive and on-call hours are billed at a higher rate than the regular retainer. After the fit call, once I know the situation and the hours, I send you a written quote. There are no recruiting fees or equity.

We’re in a different time zone. Does on-call cover work?

I work from Slovenia (CET). Before we start, we agree which hours I cover, and they can extend beyond my normal working day so they overlap with yours.

Do we have to continue after the intensive weeks?

The intensive weeks are the start of a normal engagement, not a separate project, because fixing the fire is only half the job; the other half is making sure your team can handle the next one. The first month is committed. After that, you can change the hours or stop with 2 weeks’ notice, like any engagement.

More questions about how engagements work

Book a free 30-minute fit call

Tell me what’s on fire. You’ll leave with my opinion on it, whether or not we work together. Or write to hello@fractional-hdo.com.

Pick a time on my calendar