Learn what counts as impact at your company

Every ladder rewards impact, but the word is vague on purpose. Dropbox's framework says impact "starts and ends with better serving our customers" and gives examples ranging from adoption of new features to keeping a demanding piece of infrastructure running, reducing costs and improving durability of stored data.

It also names three principles for judging impact over a career:

• Consistency: delivering work that matters repeatedly, not once.
• Velocity: the rate at which you deliver impact, not just the total.
• Accountability: every level is accountable for impact, and senior levels more directly.

Ask your manager: "What were the most valued pieces of work on our team last half, and why?" The answer tells you what impact means in your context.