Aquarius
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.
Herman Melville
The work you have been doing without anyone asking you to do it is real work, even if no job description covers it and no meeting agenda includes it. You see the gap between what everyone says will happen and what actually happens, so you quietly build the bridge. This puts you in the strange position of being essential to something that officially does not exist. The hardest part is not the extra hours or the lack of recognition. The hardest part is that when you finally stop doing it, everyone will notice the absence but still not see what you were providing.