The XYZ formula
X = What you did. Y = How you measured it. Z = What it resulted in.
Examples:
- Led migration of monolith to microservices (X), cutting deployment time from 45min to 8min (Y), enabling 3x faster feature releases (Z).
- Negotiated vendor contract renewals (X), reducing annual SaaS spend by ₹18 lakh (Y), reinvested into the AI feature roadmap (Z).
Verbs that hit
Led · Built · Shipped · Owned · Scaled · Migrated · Designed · Architected · Drove · Negotiated · Reduced · Launched
Verbs to avoid
Responsible for · Helped with · Worked on · Assisted · Participated in
Quantify everything possible
If you can't use ₹ or %, use:
- People (team size, users)
- Time (days, sprints, response time)
- Volume (requests/day, GB processed, tickets resolved)
- Frequency (weekly, monthly)
The "so what" test
After every bullet, ask "so what?" If you can't answer, the bullet needs an outcome.