Director Readiness Advisor
Diagnose PM-to-Director gaps and get a focused coaching plan when you are months away from Director interview loops.
Overview
Director Readiness Advisor is an agent skill for the Build phase that diagnoses PM-to-Director transition gaps and recommends high-leverage coaching moves based on situation and timeline.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/deanpeters/product-manager-skills --skill director-readiness-advisorWhat is this skill?
- Step 0 branches: preparing to leap, interviewing, newly landed Director, or recalibrating in role
- Situational diagnosis on delegation, leading PMs, strategic narrative, and managing up
- Timeline bucket: 0–3, 3–6, or 6+ months until interviews
- Preparing + strategic narrative path recommends weekly cascade practice: company priority → business, portfolio, and tea
- Conversational flow with numbered choices—not a one-shot generic career template
- 4 initial situation branches in Step 0
- 3 interview timeline buckets: 0–3, 3–6, and 6+ months
- 4 situational diagnosis dimensions including strategic narrative and managing up
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 are a strong executing PM but unclear what Director interviews and execs expect from your strategic narrative and leadership story.
Who is it for?
Senior PMs with roughly three to six months before Director loops who need structured narrative and influence coaching.
Skip if: Junior PMs learning basics, pure engineering task agents, or founders who only need tactical backlog grooming without leadership transition.
When should I use this skill?
User wants to move from PM to Director, prepare for Director interviews, or diagnose what they are missing for the transition.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You leave with a branch-specific focus area—such as weekly cascade practice—and prioritized actions matched to your timeline before interviews.
- Branch-specific coaching recommendations
- Weekly practice plan (e.g., cascade muscle for strategic narrative gaps)
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Canonical shelf is Build / pm because the skill coaches product leadership capability while you are still shipping and planning—not a code or ship checklist. Pm subphase fits career-stage product management: delegation, portfolio narrative, and director-level influence while building the product org muscle.
How it compares
Guided career-coaching conversation for Director readiness—not a PRD generator or roadmap prioritization skill.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is director-readiness-advisor for?
Experienced product managers preparing for or interviewing into Director roles who want diagnosis and prioritized coaching instead of generic leadership tips.
When should I use director-readiness-advisor?
Use it during Build / pm when you are planning a career move—especially if strategic narrative, delegation, or leading through PMs feels like the blocker before interview season.
Is director-readiness-advisor safe to install?
It is conversational coaching content without system access; review the Security Audits panel on this page like any third-party skill before adding it to your agent.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Director Readiness Advisor
# Example: Director Readiness Advisor Conversation Flow This shows a complete interaction for a PM who is preparing for Director interviews. --- ## Scenario The user is a senior PM, 4-6 months from interview loops, and strong on execution but weak on strategic narrative. --- ## Step 0: Initial Request **User:** "I want to move from PM to Director this year. I am not sure what I am missing." **Agent:** "I can help you diagnose the transition challenge and pick the highest-leverage next moves. First, choose your situation: 1. Preparing to make the leap 2. Interviewing for Director roles 3. Newly landed in a Director role 4. Recalibrating after being in role for a while" **User:** "1" --- ## Step 1: Situational Diagnosis **Agent:** "What feels hardest right now? 1. Delegation and letting go of IC work 2. Leading through other PMs 3. Strategic narrative and context translation 4. Managing up and cross-functional influence" **User:** "3" **Agent:** "How soon do you expect to start interviewing? 1. 0-3 months 2. 3-6 months 3. 6+ months" **User:** "2" --- ## Step 2: Branch-Specific Coaching Output **Agent output:** "You are in the Preparing branch with a Strategic Narrative gap and 3-6 months runway. Recommended focus: 1. Build your cascade muscle weekly - Each week, pick one company priority and translate it into: - business impact - portfolio implication - team-level implications - Practice saying this out loud in one sentence per layer. 2. Reframe your 1:1 with your manager - Ask: 'Which decisions in our area need Director-level framing right now?' - Bring one draft context cascade to each 1:1 for feedback. 3. Upgrade your interview story stack - Prepare 3 stories: - created clarity from ambiguity - developed a PM instead of rescuing execution - aligned competing stakeholders around a portfolio trade-off 4. Run a Hero Syndrome audit - Track 2 weeks of your calendar: - how much time in IC problem solving - how much time coaching PM judgment - If IC load is high, pick two recurring tasks to hand off intentionally. 5. Practice Director language - Replace 'I shipped' with 'I created the system and decisions that enabled teams to deliver.' - Emphasize leverage, not personal heroics." --- ## Why This Example Is Useful - Shows the skill's branching logic in action. - Demonstrates concrete recommendations tied to selected constraints. - Produces a clear next-week plan, not generic career advice. --- name: director-readiness-advisor description: Guide the PM-to-Director transition across preparing, interviewing, landing, and recalibrating. Use when leadership scope is changing and you need practical coaching. intent: >- Guide PMs and Directors through the specific challenges of the PM-to-Director transition using adaptive questions and targeted coaching. Diagnoses where you are in the journey and delivers practical, war-story-backed guidance calibrated to your situation — not generic leadership advice. type: interactive theme: career-leadership best_for: - "Preparing to make the leap to Director over the next 3-12 months" - "Navigating your first 6 months in a new Director role" - "Diagnosing what isn't working 12+ months into the Director role" scenarios: - "I'm a senior PM preparing for Director interviews next quarter" - "I just got promoted to Director and I can't stop jumping into the tactical work" - "I've been a Director for 18 months and my exec relationships aren't working" estimated_time: "10-15 min" --- ## Purpose Guide PMs and Directors through the specific challenges of the PM-to-Director transition using adaptive questions and targeted coaching. Diagnoses where you are in the journey and delivers practical, war-story-backed guidance calibrated to your situation — not generic leadership advice. This is not a readiness checklist. It's a coaching conversation that names what's actually hard, why it's hard, and what to do about it. ## Key Concepts ### The Four T