Someone (or actually 2 people) said things akin to "You're only an L4, therefore you need to be working on this part of the project." Both were newly L5.
I told them "That is not how we do things at Google. If you believe what I'm working on is not useful, communicate what the priorities are for the project and I will pick something that is both interesting to me and helpful for you. If there is nothing on this project that fits into that category, I will find a new project."
In both cases, they looked abashed and backpedaled.
This is what an L5 would do. Try to work directly with the people involved to figure out a compromise solution, and if that fails, exercise other options. And sure enough, I was promoted fairly soon thereafter.
I told them "That is not how we do things at Google. If you believe what I'm working on is not useful, communicate what the priorities are for the project and I will pick something that is both interesting to me and helpful for you. If there is nothing on this project that fits into that category, I will find a new project."
In both cases, they looked abashed and backpedaled.
This is what an L5 would do. Try to work directly with the people involved to figure out a compromise solution, and if that fails, exercise other options. And sure enough, I was promoted fairly soon thereafter.