Promotion Packet Checklist — Principal Engineer Track

1 · Packet structure skeleton

One high-level claim per focus area; evidence beneath each claim. Based on Will Larson's promotion-packets guide — start it before the work, and revise it with your manager every cycle.

☐ Header — name, current level, target level, target cycle.
☐ Claim 1 (scope & problem-finding) — e.g. "I find and frame org-level problems nobody assigned." 2–3 pieces of evidence beneath.
☐ Claim 2 (technical judgment) — e.g. "I make cross-team technical decisions with explicit trade-offs, in writing." 2–3 pieces of evidence beneath.
☐ Claim 3 (direction & leverage) — e.g. "I set technical direction the org actually follows." 2–3 pieces of evidence beneath.
☐ Leveling-up record — mentorship, reviews, glue work made visible.
☐ Named advocates — who will speak for this work, and what will they say?
☐ Gaps & plan — missing evidence, named honestly, each with a "create next quarter" action.
☐ Shared with manager — date of the 1:1 where you reviewed it together.

2 · Artifact → claim map

Every course artifact, the promo claim it evidences, and the interview round it feeds.

Artifact	Promo claim it evidences	Interview round it feeds
Scope map (L01)	I find org-level problems nobody assigned	Behavioral — scope & initiative
Trade-off table (L02)	I decide with explicit trade-offs	System design — narration
System map (L03)	I read systems beyond my team's code	Architecture deep-dive
ADR (L05)	I make decisions stick, in writing	Architecture deep-dive
Design doc (L06)	I design at staff depth	System design
SLO worksheet (L07)	I define reliability in business terms	System design — operations
Incident review (L08)	I lead under pressure, blamelessly	Behavioral — leadership
Operability audit (L09)	I treat cost & performance as architecture	Architecture deep-dive
Strategy memo (L10)	I set technical direction	Behavioral — vision
Build-vs-buy memo (L11)	I align technology with the business	Behavioral — judgment

3 · Five evidence-quality tests

Run every claim, exhibit, and story through all five. Anything that fails two or more comes out of the packet.

☐ Org-level? Does the impact cross team and quarter boundaries — or is it a team win in a nice suit?
☐ Narratable? Can you tell it, out loud, in ninety seconds, without slides?
☐ Named outcome? Does it end with something concrete that changed — a decision made, money saved, an incident class retired — not "I worked on…"?
☐ Your framing visible? Is it clear what you saw and framed — not just that you executed someone else's framing well?
☐ Would a stranger get it? Could a committee member from another org understand it with zero context and no follow-up questions?

4 · Interview-story worksheet

The four-part spine from Lesson 12. Draft each story at 150 words or fewer — the ninety-second spoken version. One copy of this block per story.

Beat	Prompt — answer in 1–2 sentences
1 · Situation	Where were you, what was at stake, and for whom? Set scale in one breath (users, teams, money).
2 · Your framing	What did you see that others didn't? How did you reframe the problem before anyone solved anything?
3 · Decision & trade-offs	What did you choose, what did you reject, and what did the choice knowingly cost? Name the alternative you said no to.
4 · Org-level outcome	What changed for the org — and would a VP care? End here. Resist adding "and then I also…"

☐ Story 1 drafted (≤150 words) — passes all five tests above.
☐ Story 2 drafted (≤150 words) — passes all five tests above.
☐ Story 3 drafted (≤150 words) — passes all five tests above.
☐ Each story rehearsed aloud once — under ninety seconds.

Remember Committees and interviewers grade what they can see. The packet and the story are the same skill — making your judgment legible to someone who wasn't there.