📣 I made a bot that will hype your performance at work
Use it to help you get over the ICK of creating visibility for your own work
It’s performance review season (for me! and for Duolingo!) and that means I’ve been thinking about how best to advocate for myself and my team for the work they did last year. Something about this exercise has always made me cringe. It’s easy to hype my team but when it comes to MY work, I always fall short.
And I’m not the only one. If I've learned anything after reading self-reviews and reviewing people over the last 15 years in tech (especially women), it's that some people are just naturally good at writing their own self-reviews and creating organic visibility for their work/wins, and others ... just aren't. If you fall into the second bucket (like me! and a lot of women I know!), writing a self-review and advocating for your own work is torture.
Do women have a harder time self-promoting?
The self-promotion paradox hits particularly hard for women in tech. While men who advocate for themselves are seen as confident and capable, women often face social and professional backlash for the same behavior - they're more likely to be perceived as "aggressive" or "bossy" when highlighting their achievements.
More tellingly, when women do self-promote, they typically use more tentative language and are more likely to attribute team success to collaborative effort rather than their individual contributions. Yet paradoxically, women who don't advocate for themselves are less likely to receive promotions than equally qualified peers. It's a classic double-bind: get penalized for speaking up, or get overlooked for staying quiet.
Enter the HypeBot 📣
Thankfully, there’s something about having someone else do the promoting for you that makes the praise more palatable. Taking this idea a step further, I made a GPT that will call you out when you’re not doing the absolute most to clearly, fairly, and excitedly talk about your work. Send a draft of your performance review through it. Or share something that will promote your work. Get feedback and make it stronger, more salient, and make it ick-free. Try it here.
Make visibility a habit
Take this a step further beyond just performance review time. Creating organic visibility isn't about bragging—it's about building a narrative that helps your team, peers, and leadership understand your impact. Here's how you can weave visibility of your work into your regular workflows:
Celebrate your wins (even the small ones)
Share progress updates regularly. Whether it's wrapping up a sprint or hitting a milestone, drop a quick update in Slack. "Shipped X today! Onward to Y 🚀" is all it takes.
I ran a draft of something I’m working on through the HypeBot and the HypeBot punched it up 🥊 Document along the way. Keep a running doc or log where you jot down your wins, challenges overcome, or "aha!" moments. This becomes your go-to for performance reviews and storytelling.
calls this his “brag book.” From his newsletter :
The idea is that you maintain a document that lists your accomplishments, which can range from the concrete and tangible (i.e. links to a design that you wrote, or some code that you shipped) to the fuzzy and intangible (i.e. the fact that you spent time pair programming with a less experienced engineer to help them ramp up, or that you made a process better, or were on call and responded to an incident).
Bake it into the culture
Start "what I’m working on Wednesdays.” Encourage your team to share something they're proud of each week. You'll normalize sharing and build a culture of mutual appreciation.
Pair wins with learning. When you share an achievement, mention a challenge or insight that came with it. It shows humility and growth and makes it feel less self-promotion forward.
Be a connector
Promote cross-functional wins. Did your work enable another team's success? If so, mention it and tag them when you share the story—this will amplify your visibility without focusing all the attention on you.
Invite feedback often. Sharing progress with an open ask for feedback turns visibility into a two-way street.
Leverage existing channels
Piggyback on team or company updates. Add a short blurb about your project to the company newsletter or an all-hands meeting deck.
Host quick lightning talks. Got five minutes in a team sync? Share a recent insight or demo a cool feature you worked on.
Build in public (internally and externally)
Keep stakeholders in the loop. Regular, lightweight updates to stakeholders help you narrate the impact you're making without extra effort.
Consider external audiences. Where appropriate, post about your work on LinkedIn or in industry groups. Thoughtfully framing the impact helps build your personal brand.
Piggyback on team or company updates. Add a short blurb about your project to the company newsletter or an all-hands meeting deck. Demo work in progress!
Make it reciprocal
Champion others. Share your teammates’ wins. It'll feel less awkward when you share your own, and people will be more likely to return the favor.
Create visibility systems. Rotate responsibility for team newsletters or recognition shout-outs, so everyone gets used to giving and receiving visibility.
To wrap
Here's what I wish someone had told me earlier: If you don't tell your story, someone else will - or worse, no one will. You're not being arrogant; you're being a good team player by sharing knowledge and impact.
And remember: The best time to start building visibility was when you started your role. The second best time? Right now!
How do you create visibility for your work? Try the HypeBot and share feedback below 👇