What is Glue Work?
Glue Work is Valuable Work That Isn’t Properly Valued by an Organization
Tanya Reilly created the term glue work to capture “the less glamorous – and often less-promotable – work that needs to happen to make a team successful.” Glue work is valuable – without it, projects fall apart – tasks get dropped, teams miscommunicate, and it is just harder to get things done. However, there is a difference between valuable and valued. If there’s nothing in your job description or career ladder that addresses this work, when it comes to promo time, it can be hard to get credit for the time you spend on these tasks. If glue work makes the team function more smoothly and effectively, but it is not valued, then that is a problem.1
Graphic by Denise Yu2
Text version
Being Glue
Tanya Reilly
@whereistanya
<SquareSpace>
#LeadDevNewYork
@deniseyu21
Image of a glue bottle that reads "Elmer's tears"
Engineering team success is not just about showing up and churning out code. ⇒ Sometimes the glue work falls to juniors who don’t get properly recognized.
Examples of glue work:
- Writing Docs
- Setting up team meetings
- Establishing coding standards
- Improving team processes
- Mentoring and coaching
- Improving new member onboarding
Even if you’re doing the highest-impact work, acting in a leadership capacity, and receiving glowing feedback… the company might not consider it engineering work.
48% more of the time, women volunteer for “non-promotable” work.
44% more of the time, managers ask women to do this work!
Managers need to track this work so it can be deliberately distributed more fairly.
For individuals… don’t do a job that someone else thinks you’d be good at. You’ll learn on the job. Choose the job that will make you happy and proud.
AND don’t tell people they’re “not technical enough.”
What if you want to keep doing Glue Work?
- Establish career goals with manager
- Get a useful “lead …” title
- Create artefacts of your impact
- Last resort: stop doing glue work until you get promoted.