I’m a Specializing Generalist, and You Should be too!
Before I delve into technical subjects I wanted to to take time to explain a little bit about my philosophy. As the title of this post suggests, I am a Specializing Generalist and, moreover, I encourage people I meet to take this outlook on things. By the end of this article I hope I have convinced you, the business leader, to adopt this focused, yet eclectic, approach.
What exactly is a “Specializing Generalist” anyhow? We all know what a “Specialist” is. This is someone who devotes most all of their efforts to one particular field of study, and is usually really, really knowledgeable about it. A “Generalist” on the other hand, is someone who knows a little bit about about a lot of different fields of study. The critique on specialists is that that they usually are in world of their own, and don’t understand or appreciate the other fields of human knowledge. It tends to make them hard to work with; like the proverbial nerd stuck in a server room somewhere that no one really wants to talk to unless there is a BIG problem. The critique on generalists is that while they might make great conversationalists at parties, they most likely will be unable to contribute anything useful or unique.
A “Specializing Generalist” is one who takes an in-between tact. In a business environment they make it a point to have a large breadth of knowledge about all aspects of their industry. This way they can appreciate and work with their co-workers more effectively. At the same time they spend extra time in a particular specialized field of study, such as IT. Even within the IT field itself, Agile Development proponents, like Scott Ambler, encourage IT professionals to obtain a large breadth of knowledge in the various IT disciplines, but still concentrate on a few areas of technical expertise. After all, unless we are Michelangelo, or Matt Damon in “Good Will Hunting,” even the best IT professionals are simply incapable of being experts in ALL the various and ever-increasing arsenal of computer technologies.
What does this mean in practical terms? For me it means that I have made a conscious decision to specialize in a few key areas like ASP.NET and MS SQL Server. At the same time I also devote a good amount of time studying other related technologies, like Java, Oracle, and hardware configuration. The benefit of this approach is that most of the time I have enough knowledge of all the disciplines required to bring an IT project from start to finish. There are occasional times I get stuck, and have to peruse technical forums and consult the true specialists, but that’s the exception and not the norm.
In addition, I have also always made it a point to become well versed in how the company I am working for does business, and how Information Technology might be able to improve their processes. A good applications developer knows the business well enough that they can read between the lines of a business requirements document, and deliver a product that is truly going to help the business grow. In reality I am both a “Specializing Generalist” within the IT profession, and within the general business framework itself.
What does this mean for the non-technical business professional? It means that while you have your field(s) of expertise, you still need to learn the other business disciplines within your company, including IT. For instance, you may be a marketing professional. While you might be an expert in that field, you still need to know about product development, and sales, and finance; because all these disciplines interact everyday with your company. And you better know IT. A LOT of marketing is internet-based these days, and you need to have an understanding of what technology can and can not do for your next marketing campaign.
The end result, of course, is that business teams of various types of “Specializing Generalists” can work better together when they each have some knowledge of the others specialties. The more effectively teams can work together, the more likely it is that your business will grow.
My goal is for this blog is for business and IT professionals to engage. The chasm between the two worlds is shameful, and is most certainly not advantageous for anyone. Likewise, as I delve more and more into the blog world, I hope I can gain a better knowledge of other disciplines from you, the business professional. Its a two-way street. It always has been!
