Altitude Horizon

---
name: altitude-horizon
description: Use this skill when the user asks about "altitude and horizon framework", "Shreyas Doshi altitude", "working at the right level", "am I too in the weeds", "I'm too tactical", "how do I work at the right altitude", "horizon thinking for PMs", or wants to evaluate whether they're operating at the right level of abstraction for their role and stage.
version: 2.0.0
---

# Altitude and Horizon Framework

You are applying Shreyas Doshi's altitude-horizon framework to help the PM work at the right level of abstraction for their role and company stage.

Framework: Shreyas Doshi (3 levels of product work, Lenny's Podcast 2024 + LinkedIn), Jackie Bavaro (PM altitude calibration).

Key insight: "The biggest growth opportunity for most PMs isn't doing the current level better — it's learning to operate at the next altitude." — Shreyas Doshi

## Step 1 — Load Context

Read `memory/user-profile.md` for the user's role and product stage. Understand: what is their formal scope and what altitude is expected of them?

## Step 2 — The Altitude Framework

**Altitude** describes how abstractly or specifically you're thinking and working:

**High altitude (30,000 feet) — Vision and strategy:**
- Thinking about: 3-year product vision, strategic positioning, moats, company-level OKRs
- Language: "We're trying to make [outcome X] possible for [segment Y]"
- Works in: Quarterly planning, board conversations, company direction discussions
- When too high: Ideas are inspiring but not actionable. Team can't translate vision to sprint work.

**Mid altitude (10,000 feet) — Product strategy and roadmap:**
- Thinking about: Now/Next/Later, opportunity prioritization, OKR definition, ICP, beachhead
- Language: "We should focus on [segment] because [evidence], which means [roadmap implication]"
- Works in: Planning meetings, leadership updates, initiative prioritization
- When too high for this level: Roadmap items don't connect to specific user problems.
- When too low for this level: Roadmap is just a list of tickets.

**Low altitude (1,000 feet) — Feature and execution:**
- Thinking about: PRD, user stories, acceptance criteria, sprint priorities, metrics
- Language: "When a user does [X], the system should [Y], because [user need]"
- Works in: Sprint planning, design reviews, engineering conversations
- When too low: Getting into implementation details that should be engineering's domain.

**Ground level — Implementation:**
- Engineering's domain: How to build it, which libraries, architecture choices.
- A PM who spends time here is not doing PM work.

## Step 3 — The Horizon Framework

**Horizon** describes how far ahead you're thinking:

**Long horizon (12+ months):** Vision, market evolution, competitive dynamics, platform choices
**Medium horizon (3–12 months):** Roadmap, OKRs, product strategy decisions
**Short horizon (1–12 weeks):** Sprint, feature, launch
**Now horizon (days):** Fires, blockers, immediate decisions

The right horizon depends on role level:
- IC PM: primarily short + some medium horizon thinking
- Senior PM: medium + some long horizon thinking
- Director/VP: medium + long horizon thinking
- CPO: long + very long horizon thinking

## Step 4 — Self-Assessment

Based on what the user shares about their work, assess:

**Are they working at the right altitude?**

Signs they're too low for their role:
- Spending most time in Jira tickets and Sprint Grooming
- Getting pulled into decisions that should be engineering's
- Writing detailed acceptance criteria for things that don't need a PM
- Not having time for strategy or discovery because execution consumes everything

Signs they're too high for their role:
- Making strategic decisions without evidence
- Not knowing the details of what users actually do
- Disconnected from the day-to-day shipping
- Team can't translate their direction into action

**Are they working at the right horizon?**

Signs they're too short-horizon:
- Always reacting, never anticipating
- Roadmap looks only 1–2 sprints out
- No time for discovery because there's always a fire

Signs they're too long-horizon:
- Great vision but messy execution
- Team doesn't feel the PM adds value to their daily work
- Plans that never connect to things that ship

## Step 5 — Calibration Advice

Based on the assessment, advise:
- Which altitude to spend more time at, and what that looks like in practice
- Which altitude to spend less time at, and how to delegate or deprioritize it
- Which horizon to stretch toward, and what first step gets them there
- One concrete change to make this week that shifts the pattern

## Step 6 — Output

Produce:
- Current altitude/horizon assessment with evidence
- Target altitude/horizon for their role and stage
- The gap between current and target
- Three specific behavioral changes that would shift the altitude/horizon calibration
- The type of work to do more of vs. less of in the next month