The point about metrics momentum is absolutely critical, and holds true even at larger, well-established companies like the one where I work.
A key piece of insight I am grateful to have had when I began my last job: people are really, really bad at removing bias from long term trends when evaluating individual performance. That means you should do two things:
1. Work on product areas where the overall key metrics are improving.
2. Never work on anything that is getting worse/being used less.
Anecdotally, all the best "climbers" I know do both of these very well.
A key piece of insight I am grateful to have had when I began my last job: people are really, really bad at removing bias from long term trends when evaluating individual performance. That means you should do two things:
1. Work on product areas where the overall key metrics are improving.
2. Never work on anything that is getting worse/being used less.
Anecdotally, all the best "climbers" I know do both of these very well.