The Business Impact Tracker

Hey Warblers,

Tuesday, Kate survived 4 leadership changes in 18 months by building resilience systems.

Today? The personal side - how Kate documented her impact so brilliantly that her last leader fast-tracked her promotion case. Instead of waiting the typical 12-18 months to "prove herself" to new leadership, she was promoted in just 6 months.

Her secret: Documentation that made her value undeniable from day one.

The Three Templates That Changed Everything

1. The Achievement Archive: Multiple Angles, One Truth

Kate's breakthrough: Document the same work through 4 different lenses. When her Q4 2022 API optimization shipped, she spent 30 minutes creating this entry:

Project: API Response Time Optimization

Innovation Lens:

• Metric: Reduced latency from 850ms to 297ms

• Translation: "Enabled mobile team to finally build offline mode"

• Proof point: Product manager email: "This unblocked our entire Q1 roadmap"

Operational Lens:

• Metric: 99.9% uptime (from 97.2%)

• Translation: "Eliminated #1 customer complaint source"

• Proof point: Support ticket volume dropped 47%

Financial Lens:

• Metric: Reduced AWS costs by $47K/month

• Translation: "Paid for 2 junior engineer headcount"

• Proof point: VP called it out in quarterly review

Scale Lens:

• Metric: Created 3-step optimization framework

• Translation: "Next optimization takes 3 days, not 3 weeks"

• Proof point: Sister team adopted framework, saved 2 weeks

The Deep Practice: Kate's actual process (stolen from her Notion):

1. Ship the work (obviously)

2. Wait 2 weeks for impact to materialize

3. Block 30 minutes on calendar: "Document [Project] Impact"

4. Email 3 people: "What changed for you after [project]?"

5. Screenshot their responses

6. Create the 4-lens entry

7. Forward to skip-level with subject: "Impact Update: [Project]"

Why this destroyed promotion committees: Committee member sees "API optimization" and thinks "technical work." Then they see "$564K annual savings" and think "business leader." Then they see "framework adopted by 3 teams" and think "force multiplier."

Same work. Four angles. Undeniable impact.

2. The Transition Portfolio: Turn Chaos into Promotion Ammunition

Kate's insight: New leaders are promotion goldmines if you document right.

Her Exact Template:

Transition: VP #3 to Director (Ex-Amazon) Date: February 2024

Pre-Arrival Prep (2 weeks before):

• Researched Director's LinkedIn posts about "mechanisms"

• Created team dashboard with DORA metrics

• Prepared Amazon’s "Working Backwards" doc for each project

First Week Moves:

• Day 1: Sent "Team Operating Manual"

• Day 3: Presented metrics dashboard in first 1:1

• Day 5: Shared 90-day plan aligned to their priorities

The Payoff Email (Week 2): "Thanks for the feedback on our operating manual. Per your suggestion, I've shared it with the other 5 team leads. They're adapting it for their teams. Happy to run a workshop if helpful."

Director's Response (saved forever): "Kate - you're operating at the next level already. Thanks for such quick action.”

The Deep Playbook:

Research Phase (before they arrive):

• LinkedIn: Read their last 10 posts/articles

• Google: "[Name] + leadership philosophy"

• Internal: Ask their former reports about preferences

• Preparation: Create materials in their style

First Impression Phase (week 1):

• Send unsolicited team overview (their format)

• Include metrics they care about

• Propose solutions to problems they'll find

• Demonstrate you "get it" immediately

Lock-in Phase (week 2-4):

• Share your work with peer teams

• Become the template provider

• Get quoted in their all-hands

• Become their success story

Kate repeated this 4 times. By the fourth transition, the incoming Director said: "I've heard about you. Let's talk about your career growth."

3. The Email Trail Strategy: Create Undeniable Evidence

Kate's rule: "Every impact needs a written record from someone else."

Her Email Templates (copy these exactly):

The Setup Email (right after shipping): "Hi [Stakeholder],

Quick question - now that [project] has been live for 2 weeks, what's changed for your team?

Specifically:

• What can you do now that you couldn't before?

• What problems went away?

• Any unexpected benefits?

Need this for our retrospective. Thanks! Kate"

The Glory Email (after they respond): "[Skip-level manager]

FYI - sharing impact from our recent [project]. [Stakeholder] mentioned it unblocked their Q1 roadmap and eliminated their #1 customer complaint.

Details:

• [Specific metric from their email]

• [Business impact from their email]

• [Future opportunity from their email]

Full thread below if helpful. Kate"

The Promotion Packet Email (quarterly): "Hi [Manager],

Quarterly impact summary for our 1:1:

Revenue Impact: $X (see email from Sales) Efficiency Gains: Y hours/week (see email from Partner team) Leadership: Mentored Z engineers (see email from mentees)

Attached: Email evidence for each claim

Looking forward to discussing growth opportunities. Kate"

The Psychology:

• You're not bragging - you're "sharing feedback"

• Third-party validation beats self-promotion

• Written evidence beats memory every time

• Managers can forward your email directly to promotion committees

Your 48-Hour Sprint:

Today (30 minutes):

• List your last 3 major projects

• Email 3 stakeholders the "Setup Email" template

• Create folder: "Promotion Evidence"

Tomorrow (30 minutes):

• Document 1 project using 4-lens template

• Forward to skip-level using "Glory Email" template

• Calendar monthly reminder: "Update Achievement Archive"

This Weekend (1 hour):

• Research your skip-level's last 10 LinkedIn posts

• Create 1-page "Team Operating Manual"

• Draft your quarterly impact summary

The Meta-Lesson:

Kate's promotion wasn't about working harder through leadership chaos. It was about documenting smarter.

Every leader wants to promote high performers. But they need evidence. Kate made it impossible to overlook her.

Your work vanishes without documentation. Your impact dies with each reorg. Unless you write it down.

Document like Kate. Get promoted like Kate.

~ Warbler