Altitude Horizon Framework
Diagnose PM-to-Director gaps using altitude (scope width) and horizon (time ahead) when you are leveling up product leadership as a solo founder or small-team PM.
Overview
Altitude Horizon Framework is a journey-wide agent skill that frames PM-to-Director thinking with altitude and horizon axes—usable whenever a solo builder needs to diagnose scope and time-horizon leadership gaps before c
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/deanpeters/product-manager-skills --skill altitude-horizon-frameworkWhat is this skill?
- Two-axis model: Altitude (how wide you zoom) vs Horizon (how far ahead you plan)
- Diagnose which transition zone creates friction after a PM→Director promotion
- Cascading Context Map for turning vague company strategy into team-level clarity
- Estimated engagement 10–15 minutes for structured self-diagnosis
- Component skill typed for career-leadership with explicit best_for scenarios
- Estimated time 10–15 min
- Two-axis model: Altitude and Horizon
Adoption & trust: 1.1k installs on skills.sh; 5k GitHub stars; 3/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
You were strong as a PM but wider org scope and longer planning horizons feel blurry, so friction shows up without a name for what changed.
Who is it for?
Senior PMs, new Directors, and founder-PMs who must create team context from incomplete strategy.
Skip if: Builders who only need a technical implementation plan or sprint task breakdown with no leadership scope change.
When should I use this skill?
Diagnosing scope, time-horizon, or leadership-level gaps in the PM-to-Director transition.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You can label altitude vs horizon gaps, pick the right transition zone to work on, and apply a Cascading Context Map when direction is vague.
- Diagnosis of altitude/horizon gaps
- Cascading Context Map application notes
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Useful at every journey phase - explore requirements and options before committing to a direction.
Where it fits
Widen altitude to compare multiple opportunity spaces before picking one product bet.
Set horizon far enough to sequence MVP vs follow-on bets without over-building.
Cascade fuzzy company goals into team priorities your agent-assisted backlog can execute.
Re-check whether you are operating at IC PM altitude while the business needs Director horizon.
How it compares
Use instead of generic “be more strategic” advice—this is an explicit two-axis diagnostic, not a backlog template.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is altitude-horizon-framework for?
Product managers stepping toward Director roles, newly promoted Directors, and founder-leads who must widen scope and planning horizon on small teams.
When should I use altitude-horizon-framework?
During Build PM when roadmaps feel misaligned, Validate when scoping bets across quarters, Operate when iterating org process, or anytime promotion friction needs a named diagnosis.
Is altitude-horizon-framework safe to install?
It is conceptual PM guidance with no shell or network requirements; still review the Security Audits panel on this Prism page for the package source.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Altitude Horizon Framework
## Purpose Defines the two-axis mental model that distinguishes Director-level thinking from PM thinking: **Altitude** (how wide you zoom out) and **Horizon** (how far ahead you look). Use this to understand what actually changes in the transition, diagnose which transition zone is creating friction, and apply the Cascading Context Map when organizational direction is vague or absent. This is not a seniority hierarchy. A PM operating at the right altitude for their role is doing excellent work. A Director operating at PM altitude is leaving their actual job undone. ## Key Concepts ### The Two Axes **Altitude — Scope** - **PM altitude:** Close to the ground. Customer problems, individual features, sprint priorities, specific team dynamics. - **Director altitude:** High-level view. Product portfolio, cross-functional systems, organizational dynamics, budget allocation, market positioning. - The shift is not about losing empathy for customers — it's about zooming out to see the entire restaurant, not just one table. **Horizon — Time** - **PM horizon:** Days, weeks, sprints. A quarter at most. - **Director horizon:** Quarter as the starting point. Annual planning cycles, multi-year strategy, market shifts. - Directors plan for where the product ecosystem needs to be in a year, then work backward. --- ### The Waiter vs. Restaurant Operator The sharpest analogy for the role shift: | Dimension | PM (Waiter) | Director (Restaurant Operator) | |---|---|---| | Focus | Individual diner experience | Entire system — staffing, margins, menu, suppliers | | Authority | Influence without control | Portfolio decisions, budget, resource allocation | | Success metric | Table seven is happy | Restaurant is profitable, consistent, and scalable | | Relationship to customers | Direct, daily, intimate | Aggregate patterns, buyer personas, market cohorts | | Failure mode | Ignoring Table Seven's needs | Obsessing over Table Seven's lemons | The waiter excels at translating the experience of individual diners. The operator isn't ignoring diners — they're asking different questions: "Are we overspending on ingredients? Is a 75-page menu confusing customers? Do we need another server for the dinner rush?" Neither question is more important in absolute terms. They're appropriate to different roles. --- ### Four Transition Zones The PM → Director shift requires movement across four zones. Most people struggle with one or two more than the others — diagnosing which one is the leverage point. **Zone 1 — Thinking Altitude** - Stop: Solving individual customer problems directly - Start: Designing systems and teams that solve classes of problems **Zone 2 — Persona Shift** - Stop: Obsessing over individual user personas and daily customer touchpoints - Start: Thinking in buyer personas, m