What is a brag document?

Finished work and what it changed. New responsibilities you took on. Numbers, where you have them. Feedback from colleagues, managers and customers. Problems you prevented, which are easy to forget because nothing happened. Things you learned or taught.

Each entry should be dated and should say where the proof lives. The CAIP Framework (Context, Action, Impact, Proof) is a good shape for every line.

Most of a year is forgotten by review time, so reviews end up describing the last month. A brag document gives you the whole year, in detail, with dates. It also helps you notice when your job has grown beyond your job description, which is the start of most pay and promotion conversations.

Weekly. Monthly entries get vague, and entries written only before a review are reconstruction, not a record. Five minutes on a Friday is enough.

Weak: "Helped with the migration."

Stronger: "12 March. Planned and ran the billing migration for 3,000 accounts over one weekend. No customer-facing downtime. Proof: incident log is empty, thank-you email from the finance director."

More by role on the achievement examples page.

Week of:
What I finished:
What changed because of it (numbers if possible):
New responsibility or scope:
Feedback received:
Proof (links, emails, reports):

More copyable formats are on the templates page.

For a performance review or appraisal, pick the five entries with the clearest impact and match them to your objectives. For a promotion case, pick entries that show you already working at the next level, and for a pay rise or raise, entries that show increased responsibility.

A work journal records everything, including process and reflection. A brag document keeps only the wins and their proof. An accomplishment tracker is software that does the recording and organising for you. The full comparison is on the methods compared page.

Writing "we" instead of "I". Leaving out numbers you could have found. Skipping proof. Only updating it in the week before a review. Keeping it in a work system your employer controls, so it disappears if you leave.

Most brag documents fail because they are another document to maintain. Instead of writing one, you talk to Look At You Go for around 90 seconds a week, by voice or text, and it builds the career record for you: dated, structured and private from your employer.