director-readiness-advisor

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 Transition Situations

The PM → Director transition looks different depending on where you are:

1. Preparing to make the leap — Still a PM, actively developing toward the role
2. Interviewing for Director roles — In an active internal or external search
3. Newly landed — Recently promoted or hired as Director (first 6 months)
4. Recalibrating — Been a Director for a while; something isn't working

Each situation has distinct coaching priorities. The biggest mistake is applying "newly landed" advice to someone who's been in the role for two years, or "preparing" advice to someone mid-interview process.

The Underlying Model

This skill draws directly on the Altitude & Horizon Framework — see skills/altitude-horizon-framework/SKILL.md for the full mental model. Core concepts used here:

• Altitude (scope) and Horizon (time) as the two axes that shift
• The Waiter vs. Restaurant Operator distinction
• Four transition zones: Thinking Altitude, Persona Shift, Hero Syndrome Recovery, Direction Creation
• Named failure modes: Hero Syndrome, Allergic to Process, People-Pleaser Leadership, Instant Gratification Trap

Facilitation Source of Truth

Use workshop-facilitation as the default interaction protocol for this skill.

It defines:

• Session heads-up + entry mode (Guided, Context dump, Best guess)
• One-question turns with plain-language prompts
• Progress labels (e.g., Context Q1/3)
• Interruption handling and pause/resume behavior
• Numbered recommendations at decision points
• Quick-select numbered response options (include Other (specify) when useful)

This file defines the domain-specific assessment content. If there is a conflict, follow this file's domain logic.

Application

This interactive skill asks 1 diagnostic question + up to 3 adaptive follow-up questions, then delivers 3–5 enumerated, targeted recommendations based on your situation.

Step 0: Session Start

Agent says:

Before we start, you can choose how to run this session:

1. Guided — I'll ask questions one at a time and build recommendations from your answers (recommended for most situations)
2. Context dump — Share your situation upfront and I'll go straight to coaching
3. Best guess — Tell me nothing; I'll give you the highest-value advice for the most common transition situation (newly landed Director, 0–3 months in)

Question 1: Where Are You?

Agent asks (Q1/3):

"Where are you in the PM-to-Director journey?"

1. Preparing to make the leap — Still in a PM role, actively building toward Director
2. Interviewing for Director roles — In an active internal promotion or external job search
3. Newly landed — Recently promoted or hired as Director (roughly first 6 months)
4. Recalibrating — Been a Director for a while; something isn't clicking the way it should

Or describe your situation directly.

Branch 1: Preparing to Make the Leap

Question 1B (Q2/3):

Agent asks:

"What's the gap you most want to close before making the move?"

1. Thinking altitude — I still default to solving customer problems directly instead of designing systems
2. Stakeholder navigation — I struggle with organizational politics, executive dynamics, or cross-functional influence
3. Strategic narrative — I can't yet connect my work to company strategy convincingly in conversations with leadership
4. Direction creation — I wait for clarity from above rather than creating it for my team

Or describe your main development area.

Question 1C (Q3/3):

Agent asks:

"What's your runway — how close are you to making the move?"

1. 6+ months out — Building deliberately; no immediate pressure
2. 3–6 months — Starting to signal readiness; preparing to have the conversation with my manager
3. Actively applying — In motion now, interviewing or expecting to be soon

Or describe your timeline.

Branch 1 Recommendations:

Agent delivers (based on 1B + 1C):

Example output for 1B = Strategic narrative + 1C = 3–6 months:

"Based on your gap (strategic narrative) and timeline (3–6 months), here are your highest-leverage moves:

1. Reframe your 1-on-1 conversations — Shift from reporting tactical progress to asking strategic questions: 'How does my work connect to what the business is trying to do this year? What's the organizational context I'm not seeing?' This builds strategic thinking muscle and signals readiness to your manager simultaneously.

2. Build your cascade habit now — Pick one company priority from the last QBR or all-hands and write a one-page translation: how does your team's work connect? Share it informally with your manager. You don't need permission to practice this skill.

3. Audit your Hero Syndrome — Track the next two weeks: how often do you jump in to solve problems that others could solve with your coaching instead? The ratio of rescuing to developing is a leading indicator of Director readiness.

4. Don't over-index on Director thinking — The most common mistake while still a PM: spending too much energy on altitude/horizon thinking at the expense of serving your current role. Play your PM role fully. Director readiness will show in the quality of your work, not in performing above your level.

Choose a number to go deeper on any of these, or ask about something specific."

Branch 2: Interviewing for Director Roles

Question 2B (Q2/3):

Agent asks:

"What's your interview context?"

1. Internal promotion — Being considered within my current company
2. External search — Interviewing at new companies
3. Both — Running an internal and external process simultaneously

Question 2C (Q3/3):

Agent asks:

"What do you most want to work on for interview prep?"

1. Internalizing the framework — I want to deeply understand the Altitude & Horizon model so I can speak it fluently, not just recite it
2. Building my stories — I understand the concepts but struggle to connect them to my own experience
3. Practicing responses — I want to rehearse answers to likely Director interview questions using this framework
4. Identifying my gaps — I want to understand which transition zones I haven't yet demonstrated and how to address them honestly

Or describe what you most need.

Branch 2 Recommendations:

Agent delivers (based on 2B + 2C):

Example output for 2B = External + 2C = Practicing responses:

"The most effective Director interview prep isn't memorizing answers — it's internalizing the thinking so it comes out naturally. These two skills are your prep tools:

1. Work through altitude-horizon-framework as a study session — Don't just read it. After each section, pause and answer: 'Where have I operated at this altitude or horizon in my own work? What's my story here?' The Four Transition Zones and Named Failure Modes map almost directly to common Director interview questions.

2. Run this advisor as a simulation — Work through Branch 1 (Preparing) even though you're already interviewing. The development moves it surfaces are the same muscles interviewers probe for. If you can't do the exercise, you haven't yet built the answer.

3. Build one story per transition zone — The Altitude & Horizon framework gives you four zones; you need at least one concrete, specific story for each. Use the zone names as the structure: 'Here's a time I had to shif