On Sep 25, 2008, at 12:27 PM, mark schraad wrote:
That's odd. Over the last 10 years we have seen exactly the opposite.
In spite of better software, making the capabilities more available,
deep expertise is valued more in the marketplace than more general
skillsets... at least at the tactical level.
I wrote about this years ago in a piece called Specialists vs.
Generalists:
http://tinyurl.com/2oba65
It's a matter of economics. Specialists exists in a world where the
economy has enough demand for specialized skills that it can support
them. Generalists exist in the rest of the world, where the economy
doesn't have enough demand for someone to work in a single area 100%
of the time.
And, as I said in the piece:
Now, don’t make the mistake a lot of folks make and confuse
*specialization* with *compartmentalization*. While the former is
about having the majority of your experience in a single discipline,
the latter is about only having experience in that discipline. While
Dr. Margles prefers to work on hands and wrists, he could, if the
need arose work on other areas. In fact, if he was the only doctor
on the island, you’d want him to be the one to deliver the baby. And
his medical training and experience would ensure he does it
successfully.
A compartmentalist isolates themselves from the other discipline
around them, not really learning what they do or how they do it.
Compartmentalism is bad for teams, because it means you have to have
enough work to keep that individual busy within that discipline, and
if needs shift or emergencies crop up, their value is dramatically
diminished.
Jared
Jared M. Spool
User Interface Engineering
510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845
e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] p: +1 978 327 5561
http://uie.com Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks
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