---
aliases:
  - hamsterwheel work
author: Jason Thistlethwaite
---

Toil is a form of hamsterwheel work which is repetitive, manual, could be automated, and produces no enduring value. The original reference comes from [[SRE|site reliability engineering]], a practice developed at Google.

## Examples of toil

- A water cooler leaks, so somebody has to avoid the puddle or clean it up every day.
- Double checking every single piece of work that is completed instead of more effective ways to prevent mistakes.
- Throwing trash on the floor instead of into a trash can.