Partnering — how I engage
I work primarily with product and engineering leadership, and I also partner with agencies to lead large-scale programs for their clients. Usually a conversation first, not a proposal.
Who I partner with
- Product and Engineering leadership — VP / Head of level and above
- Chief of Staff — where one is already in place
- Direct reports — carrying delivery, planning, or team leadership
- Product Ops or Engineering Ops leads — where the function already exists
How I engage
01 — Embedded Operations Partner
full time or contract
I come in and work as an embedded partner to product and engineering leadership, evaluating and enhancing the full model end to end, discovery through delivery, and the feedback loops in between.
Inside this model, I show up in one of a few ways, depending on what your organization needs and how it’s currently shaped:
Owner mode
As the operational owner for product and engineering, I’m accountable for how planning, delivery, and decisions actually run. I set the cadence, fix the process and tooling that slow the teams down, and build the operating model into something the org can run on instead of leaving people to patch around the gaps.
Interim owner mode
Not every organization needs someone with 20 years of experience orchestrating the model day to day. At lower complexity, what they need is for it to be architected and built properly in the first place, and that is where I come in: I design the model, get it running, and prove it holds up in your real conditions. From there it hands off to a less senior operations lead who can carry it forward. My job is to build something legible enough that someone else can run it well after I leave, and to manage that handoff deliberately instead of leaving it to chance.
Partner mode
If you already have an operator in the seat — product ops, an R&D Chief of Staff — I work alongside them and leadership as a strategic, collaborative partner and change-management expert: a partner with the range to pressure-test decisions and drive the change work they do not have the bandwidth to own alone, working with their judgment, not around it.
See Building Operating Models
02 — Project-Based Engagement
scoped to the problem
Not every team needs a full evaluation. Some are already further along and need a specific problem solved, not an operating model rebuilt. Put me on that challenge, or embed me with a team to lead it to an outcome: a broken process that needs a fix, a launch that needs a driver, a cross-functional initiative that needs someone senior enough to own it end to end.
The operating system is an interconnected system, so one challenge almost always points to an underlying cause that will need attention too. This model does not pretend otherwise. It starts small and targeted instead of wide, and I will tell you what else is worth a look without expanding the scope you brought me in for.
03 — Thought Partner
on demand · availability dependent
Coaching, advising, and problem solving together with you or your existing operations lead. For leaders who want a standing thinking partner and collaborator on a sticky challenge before it becomes a bigger issue.
The principles I hold to
She is a highly competent person who can work at both the strategic and the operational level. She is effective at leading and coordinating large, complex changes that require effective communication at every level. She does this proactively with a high degree of autonomy and accountability.
Kirby Frügia, SVP Engineering, Mural