Glue Work

Glue Work image
A collection of small, often invisible actions and tasks that generate a lot of team value” and shared this list. 

It is all the small things testers do to make information visible:

  • Helping connect colleagues who might otherwise not speak or both have important information. 
  • Bouncing ideas off colleagues or other testers. 
  • Asking and answering questions in stand-ups and meetings. 
  • Facilitating meetings or presenting demonstrations to stakeholders. 
  • Suggesting improvements to the product and the processes the team uses. 
  • Helping resolve team bottlenecks. 
  • Communicating with users
  • Noticing dropped tasks

Glue work is often work which is unloved, yet essential successful teams / projects.  While it's usually not large or innovative, glue work is a collection of smaller contributions which keep things running smoothly.

Some examples include taking notes, noticing when someone has been missed from an important meeting invite and adding them, or making sure someone responds to an incoming enquiry in a timely manner.  Without this glue work, the team may waste time repeating discussions they've already had, have to postpone important decisions, or cause stakeholders or users to feel unheard or unhappy.

One great irony of glue work, in my opinion, is that it often goes unappreciated, yet is a sign of leadership, maturity, and being a team player.  For this reason, it's a good idea to keep an eye on how much glue work you're doing, and what you're getting back from it, so as not to end up sacrificing your personal success and happiness for the sake of the team / project.

For more information on glue work and how to deal with it, check out this talk from Tanya Reilly: https://www.noidea.dog/glue
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