This. Anytime management asks you to do some work, ask them -
"How will this play into my promotion?"
If they can't come up with tangible points, don't do the work. You are not risking anything because at this point, the manager has already decided they want to string you along.
If I had a direct report who asked me this for all the work I ask them to do, I'll have to tell them:
"All the work you do, every bit of it, plays into your promotion. I ask you to do something because it's important to the company and to us all as a team, not because it's going to specifically help you get promoted. If you deliver strong results, I will be the first to champion your promotion. But if all you care about is promotion, maybe you should start looking elsewhere."
I mean, it's perfectly fine (and expected) that I should be discussing with my direct reports how their work helps them on path to promotion. But it's not acceptable for that discussion to be a blocking question for every work item.
> This probably isn't a good idea because you are going to annoy your manager. Annoying your manager is not a good strategy to getting promoted.
In a different world, I would agree with you 100%. But our industry is filled with managers who only look out for themselves.
For a manager who says "If you don't do this, then you won't get promoted", this is a bad faith power move. I have learned that when a manager says this and the IC acquiesces, the manager ends up with a proverbial upper hand. Often, this asymmetry is abused.
At that point, I highly recommend the IC to cut their losses and switch. Let the manager spend another 6-12 months staffing and ramping up someone else to do the work.
If they can't come up with tangible points, don't do the work. You are not risking anything because at this point, the manager has already decided they want to string you along.