Glue Work Is a Signal
If you constantly translate, remind, and rescue, you are seeing a system defect.
Most glue work exists because inputs are inconsistent and ownership is unclear.
AI can absorb some of this, but only if you make the workflow explicit.
Otherwise you just accelerate chaos.
Name the Glue Roles
Router: everything flows through you.
Translator: you convert vague requests into usable specs.
Memory: you remember decisions nobody recorded.
Rescuer: you fix problems at the deadline because gates were missing earlier.
Replace Glue with Interfaces and Gates
Interfaces are consistent formats for inputs and outputs.
Gates are explicit checkpoints before irreversible actions.
Use AI to draft and format, but require the system to follow the interface and stop at the gate.
Then keep a weekly review that closes the most common glue task by turning it into a rule or template.
- Handoff format: objective, constraints, owner, deadline, acceptance checklist.
- Decision record: decision, rationale, tradeoffs, review date.
- Approval gate: required for customer facing messages and money.
- Weekly retro: remove one glue task by making it a standard.
When the Business Stops Routing Through You
You gain time because fewer things route through you.
You gain reliability because work becomes repeatable.
You gain resilience because the business stops depending on one person.
And you gain career safety because you become the architect of the system.
Bottom Line
Pick one glue task you do weekly and replace it with an interface and an approval gate. Fix one glue task every Friday and your role changes fast.