Excellent post yesterday from Brad Frost about job titles. I needed some of this language the other week when I was talking about what I do and what my strengths are. I got my point across, but this metaphor would have made things so much easier to understand.
But while it’s possible to build walls only using bricks, they’re not going to be as stable as they should be.
A corollary to Brad’s idea is that you can’t have all mortar. Everybody in the company can’t be super flexible and fit in wherever. The mortar has to have some bricks to work with. Otherwise you just have a big, wet pile of dirt for a business.
I am definitely a mortar person. I fill in the gaps and coordinate among all the bricks. The tricky part is balancing the amount of coordination with getting actual work done. You can’t be just an intermediary; you still have to produce something at the end of the day.