# Building a Promotion Case - Frameworks, Templates & Checklists

*18 artifacts extracted from Lenny's Podcast and Newsletter*

## Frameworks

### 7 Strategies for Getting Promoted (How to get promoted)
A comprehensive framework of seven strategies to increase your chances of getting promoted, applicable to any role

How it works: 1. Deliver more impact — Drive significant, visible business results (hit ambitious goals, lead launches, work on high-visibility projects, save money, improve efficiency, move to critical teams)
2. Take on more scope — Demonstrate potential for the next level by proactively taking on more responsibility (take on manager's work, lead ambitious projects, get ahead on strategy, architect next big product)
3. Demonstrate that you've addressed a gap — Identify 2-3 gaps with your manager, create 3-10 concrete actions, track progress monthly with an action plan spreadsheet
4. Find an influential champion — Have someone with influence fight for you in calibration; give them ammo with a wins folder, clear progress on gaps, and a written promotion case
5. Pay attention to who gets promoted — Observe what your company actually rewards, look beyond the career ladder, talk to recently promoted colleagues
6. Ask for it — Explicitly tell your manager you want to be promoted
7. Quit and go work somewhere else — If stuck 2+ years despite best efforts, consider leaving

### Brag Document / Accomplishments Log (How to be prepared for layoffs)
A framework for systematically documenting your work accomplishments to use in future interviews and resume building

How it works: Create a new document and capture the following for each accomplishment:
- What you did (the project/initiative)
- Metrics and measurable impact
- Screenshots of work, dashboards, results
- Timelines (when it happened, how long it took)
- Stories (narrative of the challenge, your approach, the outcome)

Do it while your memory is fresh and you still have access to company tools and data. Don't overthink it — just start dumping.

Referenced templates:
- Julia Evans' Brag Document template (jvns.ca/blog/brag-documents/#template)
- Upasna Gautam's accomplishment tracking guide
- Lauren Holliday's achievement tracking template

### PM Promotion Criteria Ranking (A comprehensive survey of Product Management)
A ranked list of what PMs need to get right to get promoted, based on survey data

How it works: Promotion criteria ranked by frequency: 1. Showing significant impact on the business (by far the most common). 2. Keeping external stakeholders onboard. 3. Hitting goals. 4. Shipping great product. 5. Making their manager happy. 6. Keeping their team happy. Key insight: Unlike the mini-CEO label PMs often get, in reality they must keep their external stakeholders onboard to be successful.

### PM Promotion Evaluation Framework (What vs. How) (Manik Gupta)
A two-part framework for assessing if a PM is ready for promotion or more responsibility.

How it works: The 'What': Real demonstrated impact from an end-to-end product cycle (even if it was a failure that generated key learnings). The 'How': Ability to create energy and clarity, and 'Followership' (do people actively want to work with/for them?). Look for inflection points like successfully changing a product's trajectory or transitioning to managing managers.

## Templates

### Career Gap Action Plan Spreadsheet (How to get promoted)
A shared spreadsheet template for tracking skill gaps and concrete actions between you and your manager, with color-coded status tracking

How it works: Spreadsheet structure (Google Sheets):
- Column headers: Gap/Skill Area | Concrete Action | Owner (You or Manager) | Status (Color: Green/Yellow/Red) | Notes/Evidence
- Process:
  1. In your next 1:1, push your manager to articulate 2-3 skills/behaviors/attributes most keeping you from the next level
  2. Put together 3-10 concrete actions you (and your manager) can take over the next six months to improve
  3. Align on this list with your manager and enter into the spreadsheet
  4. Schedule a monthly 'career coaching' session to review each action item and assign a status color
  5. Repeat monthly between performance review cycles
- Link to Lenny's template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12Z8euSULYHGSKgJMR47QuK2cEyHm0B-6hAmanqtVqQ0/edit#gid=0

### Career Growth Conversation Script (Jackie Bavaro)
A non-threatening script to ask your manager for promotion requirements and targeted feedback.

How it works: 'I would really like at some point in the future to grow into [goal role]. What do you suggest that I work on now so that I'll be ready when the opportunity comes up?'

## Checklists

### 4 Reasons You May Not Get Promoted (Even If You Deserve It) (How to get promoted)
Practical, non-performance reasons that can block a promotion

How it works: 1. There's a minimum amount of time you need to be in your current role before you can get promoted
2. There aren't any available roles at the new level
3. The company isn't doing well and doesn't have the budget to promote people
4. You just aren't ready for the next level

### 5-Step Process to Address Skill Gaps (How to get promoted)
A structured 5-step process for identifying and closing the gaps keeping you from promotion

How it works: 1. In your very next 1:1, push your manager to articulate which 2-3 skills/behaviors/attributes are most keeping you from the next level
2. Put together 3-10 concrete actions you (and your manager) can take over the next six months to improve at these skills/behaviors/attributes
3. Align on this list with your manager and put them into an action plan spreadsheet
4. Schedule a monthly 'career coaching' session where you and your manager review each action item and give them a status color
5. Keep doing this every month, between performance review cycles, and continue to focus on concrete actions

### Four Reasons for Not Getting Promoted (Nikhyl Singhal)
A diagnostic list to determine why a career might be stalled.

How it works: 1. Lack of advocacy (no one sees your magic). 2. The next role doesn't exist (common in slow-growth environments). 3. Impatience (expecting promotion faster than the system absorbs leadership impact). 4. Unacknowledged development area (you refuse to change because you feel it compromises your identity).

### Give Your Champion Ammo (How to get promoted)
Five ways to help your manager and champions advocate for you in the promotion calibration process

How it works: 1. Hit goals
2. Keep your manager updated on how you've addressed gaps
3. Start a 'wins' folder or document to keep track of your wins and impact
4. Lay out your case for why you believe you should be promoted
5. Treat your manager as a partner, not a gatekeeper

### Promotion Readiness Checklist for PMs (Shweta Shriva)
A set of principles for PMs seeking career advancement, focusing on impact-driven behavior rather than promotion-seeking optimization.

How it works: 1) Focus on business impact, not self-promotion. 2) Work on the right things that drive outcomes for the business. 3) Make your ambitions known to your manager/leader. 4) Seek out challenging, high-visibility projects that stretch your skills. 5) Continuously improve your PM skillset. 6) Avoid maneuvering or optimizing for promotion—it becomes visible and is a negative signal. 7) Give 100% to your current role and let results speak.

### Self-Advocacy Checklist for Leave During Performance Review Cycle (How to create an exceptional coverage plan for your parental leave)
Steps to take before going on leave to maximize chances of promotion or fair review

How it works: 1. Discuss your goals with your manager for the upcoming review cycle. Be specific: promotion, compensation increase, other benefits. Ask how you can help your manager make the case on your behalf. Meet with skip-level and reiterate.

2. Write a detailed self-review (do in parallel with coverage plan). Include outcomes you drove and impact on company goals. If up for promotion, prepare a promotion packet with additional info. Share with manager and skip-level. Ask for feedback and incorporate it.

3. Choose peer reviewers. Ask if they're willing to provide feedback while you're gone. Send each a personalized document with: projects you worked on together, impact you drove, type of feedback you're looking for. Schedule-send an email to each reviewer (cc'ing your manager) reminding them to write your peer review when the cycle begins.

4. Ask if any peers want feedback from you. Write their performance reviews before you go out. Share those with their managers.

### Ways to Deliver More Impact (How to get promoted)
Six concrete ways to increase the impact you deliver at your company to make yourself promotion-ready

How it works: 1. Contribute to hitting more ambitious goals that directly map to business growth
2. Lead and successfully launch an important project
3. Work on higher-visibility, more important projects
4. Save the company a lot of money
5. Help the company run significantly more efficiently
6. Move to a team that's working on more critical work

### Ways to Take on More Scope (How to get promoted)
Six ways to proactively expand your responsibility to demonstrate readiness for the next level

How it works: 1. Take on work that your manager is currently doing
2. Take on a project for someone while they're out
3. Lead ambitious projects
4. Get ahead on next year's strategy
5. Take the reins of an important visioning exercise
6. Architect or wireframe the next big product

## Examples

### Company-Specific PM Promotion Criteria (A comprehensive survey of Product Management)
A mapping of specific companies to their primary PM promotion criteria

How it works: Showing significant business impact: Atlassian, Capital One, Coinbase, Expedia, HubSpot, Netflix, Square, Wayfair, Yelp, YouTube, Zillow. Keeping stakeholders onboard: Atlassian, Booking, IBM, VMware, Wayfair, Zillow. Hitting goals: Airbnb, Reddit, Yelp, Zynga. Shipping great product: Adobe, HubSpot, Intercom, Robinhood, Stripe, WhatsApp. Making their manager happy: Apple, IBM, Oracle. Keeping their team happy: Intercom, Quora, Visa.

### Lenny's Airbnb Promotion Path (How to get promoted)
Personal examples of how Lenny got promoted at Airbnb through scope expansion and champion support

How it works: Example 1 (Senior PM to Manager): A year into becoming a senior PM, Lenny proactively began mentoring a couple of junior PMs. This became a big factor in being promoted to manager a year later.

Example 2 (L5 to L6 PM): Got promoted from mid-level PM (L5) to Senior PM (L6) after leading Instant Book — a mission-critical project spanning multiple departments, reporting to executive staff, and becoming a major part of company strategy. This went far beyond the scope of a traditional L5 PM.

Example 3 (M1 to M2): Got promoted from M1 to M2 only after taking on managing five sub-teams and demonstrating ability to handle it.

Example 4 (Champion effect): Fastest career ramp happened after moving to a new, incredibly influential manager who helped Lenny level up as a PM and fought for him cycle after cycle, leading to consecutive promotions.

### Marketing Org Chart Pitch (Claire Vo)
An example of how to pitch yourself for a promotion by solving an organizational gap.

How it works: When the head of marketing left, Claire drew an org chart combining product and marketing, put her name at the top, defined the management structure underneath, created her own JD, and presented it as a solution to her boss.

## Tools

### Wins Folder/Document (How to get promoted)
A running document or folder where you track your wins and impact over time, to be used when building your promotion case

How it works: Create a 'wins' folder or document to keep track of your wins and impact. Use this to: (1) provide ammo for your champion/manager during calibration, (2) lay out your case for why you should be promoted, (3) keep your manager updated on progress. Should include: specific outcomes, metrics moved, projects launched, scope expanded, gaps addressed.