According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs , we have a need for self-actualization. I don’t mind how you define that, but I’m sure you agree: we need to feel a sense of accomplishment.
Being productive
For me, that sense of accomplishment comes from being productive. The past two weeks I have not felt productive, and that makes me miserable. I’ve given it some thought. To be honest, I know that there have been days when I have lacked focus. But some of the time, I’ve been busy with glue work. I’ve done stuff, but it doesn’t feel like productive stuff.
I’ve told friends in the past that my role is often to be the glue – either in a work or family situation. Glue is what makes things stick together. It creates cohesion. It fixes things that are broken.
Glue work
I don’t remember ever hearing or reading the term, but maybe I did. Or, like other people, I used it because it is the perfect analogy. Today I discovered a talk by Tanya Reilly in 2019 about glue work in software development teams. She uses the term for the less glamorous work that needs to happen to make a team successful. Glue work is important. She describes it as the difference between a project that succeeds and one that fails.
Managers, project managers and team leads do a lot of glue work – that’s the essence of the job. But often glue work is unassigned, and it falls to some volunteer (usually a woman) to do it.
Reilly’s talk is about the possible negative impact of glue work on a career, and how to deal with it. You can watch her video or read her blog article on the same topic. She also talks about how we all only get better at what we spend time on. It’s a worthwhile read / watch for both developers and managers.
Celebrate the glue
In my case, glue work is part of my job. And it’s not going to impact my career prospects. But it can still leave me feeling unproductive and unsatisfied.
So today I want to commend everybody who does glue work, whether official or unofficial. Here’s to being the glue. Without us, nothing would stick together.
I’d love to hear your comments.