To get promoted, get better at complexity, autonomy, and throughput

As many companies kick off performance reviews this time of year, I often get the question, “How do I get promoted this coming review cycle?” Across my career, I’ve noticed that the people who get promoted usually distinguished themselves by handling 3 different kinds of challenges: Complexity: How difficult a problem can you solve? Sometimes this masquerades as “scope” or “breadth” or “depth” — all different ways to describe why a problem is hard. Autonomy: Can you handle the problem with minimal guidance? This doesn’t mean “solve it yourself at all costs” — but instead, can you take the lead and pull in your manager and others appropriately to keep them informed or get their support when needed? Throughput: How many hard problems can you solve at the same time? These 3 axes make sense. After all, think about how much a company can accomplish with a bunch of people who can independently handle multiple thorny problems simultaneously! Of course, it’s hard to get better at all of

As many companies kick off performance reviews this time of year, I often get the question, “How do I get promoted this coming review cycle?” Across my career, I’ve noticed that the people who get promoted usually distinguished themselves by handling 3 different kinds of challenges: Complexity: How difficult a problem can you solve? Sometimes this masquerades as “scope” or “breadth” or “depth” — all different ways to describe why a problem is hard. Autonomy: Can you handle the problem with minimal guidance? This doesn’t mean “solve it yourself at all costs” — but instead, can you take the lead