This content originally appeared on Go Make Things and was authored by Go Make Things
I first heard the term “glue work” in the context of software engineering.
Glue work describes all of the behind-the-scenes stuff that keeps a thing (a team, a project, a movement, whatever) together.
In the coding world, it’s things like mentoring junior devs, unblocking someone who’s stuck, writing documentation, updating a broken readme, and so on.
Over on Bluesky, there was some chatter this week about how many folks seem excited about everything (social systems, the environment, public health, etc.) collapsing.
Jay Pharm described it in a way that really clicked for me (emphasis mine)…
Hoping for the end of the world seems to be a reason for people to avoid responsibility. It’s a tidy little finality rather than the reality that in times of crisis, you aren’t the hero, and there’s the dirty work of providing food, water, shelter, and medicine.
That stuff is glue work, and a lot of people, typically men (and more specifically white cishet men) are a lot less likely to do this kind of work. As a result, folks in marginalized groups pick up the slack.
But glue work isn’t limited to coding jobs. You see it in social movements, too.
Being on the front lines of protests and leading organizing events is highly visible (if not always glamorous) work. But those movements also need folks to setup tables and chairs for meetings, cook food, brew coffee, clean dishes, print fliers, make signs, and a million other invisible tasks that hold things together.
Shortly after 9/11, Mr. Rogers gave an interview where he mentioned that his mom would tell him…
Always look for the helpers. There will always be helpers, just on the sidelines… because if you look for the helpers, you’ll know that there’s hope.
But what I wanted to say today is that you can be the helper.
It doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to scale. It doesn’t have to change someone’s life in some big, meaningful way.
It can be a small, nearly invisible act of kindness.
One drop of snow melts quickly. But snow sticks to itself, and many snowflakes, piled up over time, can create an avalanche.
Join your local Buy Nothing Project, and give away things you’re not using to people who need them. Cook food at your local Food Not Bombs collective. Bring a neighbors trash bins up from the curb. Carry cash, and give money to anyone you see pan handling.
Carry chalk with you, and leave non-destructive graffiti with inspiring messages as you move through your day.
Share food. Share tools. Share your time. Share.
Do glue work. Be a helper. Spark joy. ❤️
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This content originally appeared on Go Make Things and was authored by Go Make Things
Go Make Things | Sciencx (2025-08-20T14:30:00+00:00) Glue work in times of crisis. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/08/20/glue-work-in-times-of-crisis/
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