Brag Doc Skill
Nobody remembers in December what they shipped in March — so good work goes uncredited at review time.
A brag doc is the fix: a running, dated log of what you did and the impact it had, captured while it's
fresh. This skill turns a pile of "stuff I did" into impact-first entries you can paste straight into a
self-review or promotion-packet.
Required Inputs
Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:
- The win(s) — what you did (rough notes are fine; the skill structures them).
- Impact — the outcome and any metric (before → after, time saved, revenue, users) — even a rough one.
- Scope & role — your specific contribution vs. the team's, and who it affected.
- Date / period and any evidence (PR, doc, dashboard, kudos, ticket link).
Output Format
Brag Doc — [your name], [period]
Entries newest-first, grouped by theme (or quarter). Each entry is impact-first:
[Verb-led headline — the outcome, not the task] · [date]
- What I did: [the specific action and your role in it]
- Impact: [metric / outcome — before → after where possible]
- Scope: [who/what it affected — team, org, customers]
- Evidence: [link]
- Maps to: [the competency / ladder level it demonstrates — e.g. "cross-team influence"]
Example:
Cut onboarding drop-off 18% → 9%, unlocking ~$140k ARR · Mar 2026
- What I did: led the redesign of the 3-step signup flow; wrote the PRD, drove eng + design alignment.
- Impact: activation 41% → 52%; drop-off halved (measured over 6 wks, 20k users).
- Scope: owned end-to-end; affected all new signups.
- Evidence: [PRD] · [dashboard]
- Maps to: drives measurable product outcomes; cross-functional leadership.
End with a "Themes this period" summary — the 3–4 narrative threads your wins ladder up to.
Quality Checks
Anti-Patterns
Based On
Brag-document practice (Julia Evans) and impact-first accomplishment tracking.
1---2name: brag-doc3description: Keep a running brag document of your accomplishments so reviews and promo cases write themselves. Use when asked to start or update a brag doc, log a win, track accomplishments, or prep evidence for a review/promotion. Produces a structured, dated accomplishment log — impact-first entries with metrics, scope, and the evidence link — grouped so it drops straight into a self-review or promo packet.4---5
6# Brag Doc Skill
7
8Nobody remembers in December what they shipped in March — so good work goes uncredited at review time.
9A brag doc is the fix: a running, dated log of what you did and the impact it had, captured while it's
10fresh. This skill turns a pile of "stuff I did" into impact-first entries you can paste straight into a
11[`self-review`](../self-review/SKILL.md) or [`promotion-packet`](../promotion-packet/SKILL.md).
12
13## Required Inputs
14
15Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:
16
17- **The win(s)** — what you did (rough notes are fine; the skill structures them).
18- **Impact** — the outcome and any metric (before → after, time saved, revenue, users) — even a rough one.
19- **Scope & role** — your specific contribution vs. the team's, and who it affected.
20- **Date / period** and any **evidence** (PR, doc, dashboard, kudos, ticket link).
21
22## Output Format
23
24### Brag Doc — [your name], [period]
25
26Entries newest-first, grouped by theme (or quarter). Each entry is **impact-first**:
27
28> **[Verb-led headline — the outcome, not the task]** · *[date]*
29> - **What I did:** [the specific action and your role in it]
30> - **Impact:** [metric / outcome — before → after where possible]
31> - **Scope:** [who/what it affected — team, org, customers]
32> - **Evidence:** [link]
33> - **Maps to:** [the competency / ladder level it demonstrates — e.g. "cross-team influence"]
34
35Example:
36
37> **Cut onboarding drop-off 18% → 9%, unlocking ~$140k ARR** · *Mar 2026*
38> - **What I did:** led the redesign of the 3-step signup flow; wrote the PRD, drove eng + design alignment.
39> - **Impact:** activation 41% → 52%; drop-off halved (measured over 6 wks, 20k users).
40> - **Scope:** owned end-to-end; affected all new signups.
41> - **Evidence:** [PRD] · [dashboard]
42> - **Maps to:** drives measurable product outcomes; cross-functional leadership.
43
44End with a **"Themes this period"** summary — the 3–4 narrative threads your wins ladder up to.
45
46## Quality Checks
47
48- [ ] Every entry leads with **impact/outcome**, not the activity
49- [ ] Metrics include the baseline (before → after), not a bare percentage
50- [ ] Your specific contribution is distinguished from the team's
51- [ ] Each entry links real evidence
52- [ ] Entries are tagged to a competency/ladder level, so the doc feeds a review or promo case directly
53
54## Anti-Patterns
55
56- [ ] Do not log tasks ("attended planning", "wrote code") — log outcomes ("shipped X, which moved Y")
57- [ ] Do not wait until review season — capture wins within a week, while the metrics and context are fresh
58- [ ] Do not inflate or claim team wins as solo — overstated credit is worse than none when a manager checks
59- [ ] Do not omit the metric because it's imperfect — a rough, labelled estimate beats "improved things"
60- [ ] Do not bury the evidence — an unlinked claim is one a busy manager can't verify or champion
61
62## Based On
63
64Brag-document practice (Julia Evans) and impact-first accomplishment tracking.
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