Position

A problem, not a title

“Designer”, “developer”, “consultant” are categories with millions of people in them. People remember you for a problem you solve: “the person who makes small hotels’ booking pages convert”, “the one who automates boring finance work”.

Write ten problems you have solved, at work or outside it. Circle the ones you would happily solve again for the next five years. Pick one. It can be narrower than feels comfortable: narrow is how people remember you.

The sentence

“I help [who] with [problem], so that [result].” Keep it plain enough that someone else could say it at a dinner when your name comes up.

The evidence you already have

Now list ten pieces of evidence for that sentence. Not achievements in adjectives; things that happened:

• a project and what changed after it,
• a number you moved,
• a tool, a document or a talk you made,
• a problem a colleague brought to you because you are known for it,
• something you wrote that people shared.

You will package three of them next week.

Test it

Say the sentence to two people who know your work and ask: “Does that sound like me?” If they hesitate, adjust. If they add a detail you forgot, keep it.

Done when

The problem is in one sentence, ten pieces of evidence are listed, and two people recognised you in it.