People whose value for the company is not for the next level get promoted due to luck or their ability to hack the system. Those who perform for the next level are not promoted.
The system feels broken. But! It is the best working process in big tech. And, on average, this bureaucracy helps to limit politics.
Basically perf review process feels horrible, till you work in a company that does not have it.
Limitations discussed in the text like manager could not explain why XXX exceeds on her role feels strange.
In every big company there is a career path document that shows what types of tasks person is expected to do at each level. You perform well on your level - (ME) meets expectations, you perform on the higher level - (EE) exceeds or strongly exceeds (SE).
You perform for 1 year+ on the higher level (typically EE + SE) + apply for promo => you get promo.
It is more or less standard across big tech.
Again, the system could be hacked, but on average it works.
P.S. Part about "you deserve" in the title and across the text talks about unhealthy entitlement. I would imagine that if engineer come to me and instead of showing evidence of how they consistently perform for the next level will talk about what they deserve it would not end with a promotion.
P.P.S. Read the text only till "This post is for paying subscribers only"