Fractional operations: a part-time team that runs the week with you.
Fractional operations means a part-time operations team instead of a full-time hire. Satsuma works as your chief of staff and operations lead, month to month. We set the weekly priorities with you, run the meetings, chase projects until they’re done, and send a monthly report of what moved. You keep every decision.
You don’t need another plan. You need someone whose job is to keep the week moving.
Many owners are the busiest person in the business and the last to reach their own list. Projects stall. Meetings end with nothing written down. The hiring paperwork waits for a free evening.
That is what fractional COO services and a fractional chief of staff are for: someone who keeps the operating rhythm going so the owner’s time goes to decisions. We do it as a team, part time, on a monthly basis. You decide. We make sure the decisions get made on time and carried out.
One week of fractional operations.
What runs on its own, and what a person on our team or yours does.
From Monday’s numbers to Friday’s decisions.
- Machines run it: Numbers pulled
Last week’s results gather on one page before Monday.
- People keep it: Priorities set
We agree the week’s three with the owner.
- People keep it: Meeting run
Agenda sent ahead. Notes, owners and dates sent after.
- Machines run it: Tasks assigned
Each action becomes a task with a name and a due date.
- Machines run it: Reminders sent
Owners get a nudge before each due date.
- People keep it: Projects chased
We follow up on anything late until it is done.
- People keep it: Owner decides
The brief lists what needs a call. The owner makes it.
What the team handles.
Each week and each month, and what stays with the owner.
| Task | How often | What we do | The owner decides |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly priorities | Every week | Draft the top three from last week’s numbers and open projects | Which three stay |
| Team meeting | Every week | Send the agenda ahead. Send notes with owners and dates after | What goes on the agenda |
| Project follow-up | Every week | Check every open project, nudge the owners, flag what is stuck | What to do about anything stuck |
| Hiring and onboarding paperwork | As needed | Write the job post, interview questions and a first-week checklist | Every hire, and every offer |
| Vendors | Every month | Track renewals, gather quotes, handle the emails | Which vendor, and any contract |
| Monthly report | Once a month | Send one page: what moved, what didn’t, what is next | What changes next month |
How this differs from hiring a fractional COO.
Both can be right. Read the full comparison.
What this isn’t.
Plain answers to the things owners worry about most.
Questions about fractional operations.
What are fractional COO services?
A fractional COO is a part-time chief operating officer: someone who runs operations without being a full-time hire. Satsuma offers the same job as a team, so you get the rhythm without the payroll.
What does a fractional chief of staff do?
A chief of staff keeps the owner’s week organized: the priorities, the meetings, the follow-up and the paperwork. That way the owner’s time goes to decisions, not to remembering.
How is outsourced operations different from an operations manager?
An operations manager is an employee. Outsourced operations is a team you bring in month to month, with nobody to hire or manage. The tradeoff is that we work part time and from outside.
What does it cost?
We start with a two-week Review at a fixed fee, quoted before we begin. Run is monthly, so it is not a long contract.
Start with a two-week review.
Fixed price. At the end, you get a ranked plan: what to fix first, what it saves you, and what it protects.
Prefer email? Write to hello@satsumahq.com