3 steps to make your data wins impossible to ignore with the impact communication playbook
Most data leaders work in silence and hope someone notices. This playbook flips the script and shows you how to make every win fuel your next raise, budget, or promotion.
Massive Gift: You are invited to a free group enablement call next. This is a live Zoom call where you can ask a question, and I will answer on the spot.
Usually, these calls are reserved only for paying Data Gibberish members, but not this time. Check the details in the calendar event, hop on the call. I'd love to meet you!
This playbook is part of The Profitable Data Engineer Framework. Click here to explore the full series.
As data engineers, you and I are trained to stay quiet.
You know you do great work, but nobody really understands what you do. You spend your days in the basement of the org, invisible by design.
That might be fine for a while. But deep down you know you can do better. You want more. You want people to notice.
Here’s the secret:
It’s not about what you build. It’s about how you sell it.
And no, I don’t mean playing politics or turning into some fake version of yourself. I mean, learning how to package your work so the right people pay attention.
Today I’ll show you how to advertise your wins in a way that feels real, earns your team credit, and gets you the influence you actually deserve.
Why sharing wins is your secret weapon
Most data engineers vanish into code. You and I know the story. You deliver projects, pipelines, dashboards. You keep things alive. But when the time comes for leadership reviews, your work is invisible.
Hard work alone doesn’t get you a raise. Visibility does.
That’s why sharing wins is not optional, it is your secret weapon.
Some background
This playbook closes the business impact translation system inside the Profitable Data Engineer Framework. Think of it as the capstone.
You and I already walked through the first part, business value mapping. That’s where you learned how to translate engineering talk into the language of revenue, costs, and speed. The language execs actually hear.
Then came the prioritization playbook, where you learned how to pick projects that matter. Not just the ones that are fun or technically elegant, but the ones that move business needles.
But here’s the truth. None of it matters if your wins stay invisible. You can map value and choose the right projects, but if leadership never hears about the results, the impact is wasted.
That’s why this playbook exists. It’s not about doing the work. It’s about surfacing the impact.
The big idea
Sharing wins is not bragging. It is survival.
If you don’t tell the story of your work, somebody else will. And they will tell it in a way that makes them the hero.
When you package wins, you’re not just chasing credit. You’re shaping perception. You’re building momentum. You’re proving to leadership that your team delivers outcomes, not just pipelines.
Here’s how I do it. I keep it simple. I use one structure every time:
Result → Before → ChangeResult first, so the impact is clear. Then just enough background to make the result meaningful. Finally, the change you and your team drove to make it happen.
This is the playbook. And once you learn it, you’ll never let a win go unseen again.