Here are the key takeaways from “Being Glue” on No Idea Blog:
- Glue Work Defined: Glue work includes all the tasks that keep a team functioning but are often invisible and undervalued—onboarding, mentorship, smoothing team communication, unblocking others, designing processes, and making sure projects move forward. These are crucial for team success but seldom prioritized for promotions or formal recognition.
- Hidden Career Impact: Glue work, if done unconsciously or without recognition, can limit your career progression, particularly in technical roles. It’s easy for those doing glue work to be labeled “not technical enough,” which can push them out of engineering tracks—even if their contributions are essential.
- Promotion and Non-Promotable Work: Organizations often reward those who do visibly “technical” work (code, architectural design) rather than glue work—even if glue work had high impact. This leads to a mismatch between team success and individual career advancement.
- Fairness and Gender Bias: Data shows women are more often asked to do (and volunteer for) non-promotable work, both because of systemic bias and team dynamics. Managers tend to ask women 44% more than men to take on such tasks.
- Deliberate Management: Managers and teams should be conscious in distributing glue work fairly and recognize its value. Documenting these contributions and actively seeking appropriate recognition (like titles, credits, and promotions) helps avoid career dead-ends for glue people.
- Learning and Growth: The majority of professional learning happens on the job. Roles should be chosen deliberately based on desired skill growth and satisfaction, not just what others say you’re “good at.”
- Making an Impact Visible: People doing glue work should:
- Have honest career conversations with managers (set clear expectations for promotion).
- Seek appropriate titles if glue work is a primary responsibility (like tech lead).
- Create artifacts (docs, emails, meeting notes) that demonstrate the impact and leadership involved.
- If progress stalls, temporarily focus on highly visible, promotable tasks.
- Balance and Self-Advocacy: While glue work is valuable, don’t let it take over your role unless it’s recognized and rewarded. Learn when and how to say no or redistribute non-promotable work. Keep developing technical and other skills to ensure long-term career growth.
- Advice for Managers: Make glue work part of your promotion criteria for senior roles; otherwise, you risk undervaluing those who make the team successful but don’t fit narrow definitions of technical contributions.
- Empowerment: Ultimately, you can be good at many things, but you should choose roles and skills you genuinely want to develop and feel pride in. Be deliberate with your career path, knowing your learning and success are shaped by where you invest your effort and how your work is seen by others.noidea