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I read it this way as well. That said, sometimes boring work needs to be done too. Who does it in this framework?

It's about ensuring there's a mix and an opportunity to work on different types of work.

It's okay to have boring work. It's challenging to _only_ have boring work.

It's similar to hiring on mission: ensure alignment between what the person wants to do and what the company needs done. The more out of alignment, the more costly in energy, $, time, management, QA, etc. it becomes, and the less likely bottom-up innovation happens.

In this case, a volunteer is a nice mission-less proxy. Is some work engaging for the owning employee, or do you need to get someone else on it, or even switch to outside staff for it?

That seems like a confused idea of both volunteers and employees. To whom should boring tasks be given? If I volunteer at a place it's because I believe in the mission and if I work at a place it's because I want to get paid. Either way, if boring work is what's needed, that's what I'll do.