How I work
I take a product area off your desk and own it.
What the first ninety days look like, what you get every week, and how the handover works.
The first ninety days
- Week 1Access and contextTools, documents, analytics, the codebase read-only, and calendar time with the people who ship and the people who sell. Access from day one is part of the agreement.
- Week 2In your cadenceI take the refinement and the planning. Decisions that have been open get a date. The backlog for the next four weeks is groomed.
- Weeks 3 to 6Roadmap and specsA release-scoped roadmap for the quarter, written specs for what is next, and a prototype where a spec would take longer to argue than to click through.
- Weeks 7 to 12Shipping and learningReleases go out, experiments get a read-out, the roadmap gets corrected with reasons written down. First quarterly review with the sponsor.
- BeyondHandoverWhen you hire the full-time lead, I onboard them over a few weeks, hand over the decision log and the roadmap, and step out.
Every week, in your own tools
- A groomed backlog for the coming weeks.
- A written decision log: what was decided, why, what it replaces.
- A release-scoped roadmap, updated.
- A written check-in: shipped, slipped, next.
Principles
- Decide, then write it down. Nothing that matters sits only in my head.
- Prototypes over slides. People align on something they can click.
- Numbers with context. A percentage without its baseline is not a result.
- The judgment stays mine, even where AI does the drafting.
- Say early where I am not the fit.
Specs, decision logs, roadmaps and prototypes come out of codified workflows in your formats and your tools. Meetings and decisions flow into a maintained knowledge base per mandate. The judgment, the scope and everything touching production stay with me.
Where I am not the fit
You need somebody to manage a team of product managers, or to find product-market fit from scratch. That is a different hire and I will say so on the call rather than three months in.
FAQ
Questions that come up on the first call.
How is this different from an interim product owner or a consultancy?
An interim PO usually replaces one seat full time for a few months. A consultancy advises and hands over a deck. a11l sits in between: I take ownership of an area, decide what gets built and write what the engineers work from, but on a retainer of four to eight days per month with a three-month minimum. The goal is a handover to a full-time lead, not a permanent seat.
How fast can you start?
Usually within two weeks of the first call. Week one is access to tools, documents and people. From week two I run in your cadence: your standups, your planning, your release rhythm.
What does it cost?
The Product Clarity Sprint is a fixed 7,500 €. Retainers are 6,000 € (Focus, four days a month), 9,000 € (Core, six days) and 12,000 € (Lead, eight days), each with a three-month minimum. Interim cover is 1,600 € per day. All figures net, plus VAT. A six-month commitment reduces the rate by 8 percent, quarterly prepayment by 5 percent.
Remote or on site?
Mostly remote, in your tools, with on-site days where they earn their keep: kick-off, discovery with customers, a release. I am based in Berlin and work across DACH and Europe in German and English.
How does the handover work?
Nothing that matters sits only in my head. Backlog, decision log and roadmap live in your tools from week one. When you hire the full-time lead, I onboard them for a few weeks, then step out.
Thirty minutes and you will know whether this fits.
Bring the product area that keeps slipping. You get a read on it either way.