The writer gives a very honest-sounding description of their strategizing, and the rationale for that. And there's also some good advice about being judicious about what issues you raise.

At the same time, this sounds very political, and not traceable to goals of the business:

> There's a very specific reputation I want to have on a team: "Nat helps me solve my problems. Nat get things I care about done." That's the reputation that's going to get me the results I want in next year's performance review. That's the reputation that's going to get me a referral a few years from now.

I like to be on teams for which, if new to the team, mostly you notice things being done sensibly (in context), and the 3 things you see that you don't understand, you can just ask about them, because everyone on the team just wants to work well together to achieve the genuine goals.

Not to have to bank observations as an asset, to be introduced diplomatically and strategically, according to a script, to maximize performance reviews and peer approval ratings.