When in Doubt, Chase a Number
How to cut through the fluff and stay laser focused on what really matters to career growth in any environment.
(Teddy the corgi, Pyrennees, Spain)
Client: I’m taking on a new role and I want to set myself up on the best trajectory for promotion and career growth. I don’t know what my superpower is. I’m good at a lot of things and enjoy doing a variety of work, but nothing stands out. How should I prioritize my work? What should I focus on?
When I first joined Instagram, I reached out to successful, well-respected product leaders at the company to introduce myself and also to ask a simple question: “What makes a PM leader successful at Instagram?” The best answer I got was: “When in doubt, chase a number.” from Ashley Alexander, now Co-Head of Product@Instagram.
What number to chase?
In every business, there are a set of metrics that are important to the executives at the company: revenue, number of users, gross margin, and retention. Early stage companies tend to focus more on number of users while mature companies focus on revenue. If you’re in a low margin business, then margins matter. If you’re in a SaaS business, then retention is queen. Figure out the key number driver for the business your company is in, and make one of these numbers your prioritization function or filter for your all work.
What does it mean to “chase”?
Chasing the number means staying laser focused on work that moves this number in the positive direction. It is a filter that cuts through all the complexity around what’s important to focus on, and allow hard numbers to speak for itself.
What work should you be prioritizing? The tasks that are most likely to move the number.
What skills do you need to develop? The skills that enable you to move the number faster.
Are you on the right team or project to grow in your career? You are if the work you’re doing on the team moves the number.
This motto gives a very simple and direct way for you to cut through potentially confusing strategies from leadership, a lack of clarity around direction, or additional tasks you’re asked directly or indirectly to perform. It also puts you in a position to lead — because you need to develop your perspective on what will move the number, and gather the resources to make it happen. This can be no small feat, and lead you down a path of developing the most valuable skillsets to leading teams.
There are of course other reasons to take on work (e.g. reciprocal favors, personal interest). However, having this simple filter allows you to easily decide where the majority of your time should fall. It also avoid you taking on too many non-promotable tasks, doing a lot of work, and not getting promoted.
Frequently Asked Questions
But my work or team is so far from “the number”!
Sometimes, when you get this advice, you realize that your team is not one of the teams that is directly tasks with moving an important number. There’s two things you can do:
Increase the relevance of your team and the work you’re doing towards moving the number
Move closer to work and teams that do directly impact the number.
It’s likely easier to start with option 1 first, and how you may be able to orient and reprioritize the work such that you are more directly chasing a core number. If this is not possible, then you’ll need to set yourself up for a team transition in the near future. Staying in a team that’s not chasing a number may be good for work/life balance, but is unlikely to progress your career.
Do I actually need to MOVE the number?
More often than not, you cannot accurately measure how much you moved the number. These top level numbers are influenced by so many teams and factors that it is very difficult to cleanly attribute it to your work. However, this does not preclude you from trying to come up with creative methods to estimate the impact you had, and talking the impact of your work based on how it impacts the number.
I’m not motivated by numbers.
That’s okay. How you prioritize your work does not need to be the same as what motivates you. What motivates you also may also not be what gets your promoted (and if not, it’s also important to reflect why and whether you truly want that next job). The point here is that if you want to get promoted and you’re not sure what to do, chasing an important number has a high likelihood of getting you on the right trajectory. It is possible that motivation to do the work may come from other sources.