Altitude Horizon Framework

If you're a senior PM wondering what actually changes when you become a Director, or you're newly promoted and something feels off, this breaks it down into two axes: altitude (how wide you zoom) and horizon (how far ahead you look). The waiter versus restaurant operator analogy is sharp. Most useful are the four transition zones and named failure modes like Hero Syndrome (jumping in to solve problems yourself) and being Allergic to Process (letting teams run independent playbooks until nothing integrates). The Cascading Context Map is practical for when company strategy is vague and you need to create direction downward instead of waiting for perfect clarity from above. Takes about 15 minutes and diagnoses exactly which part of the transition is creating friction.

skills.sh installs: 2.7K
GitHub stars: 7.9K
last updated: Aug 21, 2026

View on GitHub

Install

$ npx -y skills add deanpeters/product-manager-skills --skill altitude-horizon-framework --agent claude-code

Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.

Files

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.

Input

Nothing required — this is a reference framework you can read start to finish. Also useful: Your current situation (role, the transition friction you're feeling, a decision you're weighing). With that, the framework can be applied directly to diagnose which transition zone you're in.

Anything supplied with the invocation itself — text after the skill name, a pasted context dump, or an appended ARGUMENTS: line — counts as answers already given. Use it and skip whatever it covers; don't re-ask.

SKILL.md on GitHub

Details

Repository: github.com/deanpeters/product-manager-skills
First seen: Apr 16, 2026