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The Solvers' Manifesto

solversmanifesto.com

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Re: The Solvers' Manifesto

#11

Post by stcredzero »

Wolf_Larsen wrote: post #3

This is not something that anyone should aspire to. You are proud of mediocrity, desperation, and identity crisis? "We are experts in nothing, yet we know a great deal about almost anything." "But most of us are exploited, doing odd jobs for you just because we are the only ones that know how to do it." "We are not jobless, yet there is no name for what we do. And because of that, our craft hasn't earned any respect.…

We are experts in nothing, yet we know a great deal about almost anything.

Exactly what is "a great deal?" I think one is just starting down the road to being an expert when you begin to get an idea of what you don't know. The current depth of human knowledge is such that a half lifetime of study is required in many fields to become a true expert.

Then again, sometimes, it's better to know less to get started. Knowing the sheer magnitude of what you don't know can be paralyzing.

Getting things done is a valuable thing in itself. A lot of arguably smart people have difficulty with this.

Re: The Solvers' Manifesto

#12

Post by stcredzero »

Wolf_Larsen wrote: post #7
wladimir wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though I agree that the manifest is worded a bit negatively in a few places, being somewhat of a generalist does not mean that you're mediocre in everything, or a cheap employee. "We are experts in nothing, yet we know a great deal about almost anything." to me, seems to imply that you know a lot about a lot of things, and have developed your skills, though have not dived deep enough to be considered expert in some n…

"being somewhat of a generalist does not mean that you're mediocre in everything, or a cheap employee." No, it doesn't.

It's very important that you're not mediocre in absolutely everything. There should be at least one field you know in depth. As far as I know, this is the only way anyone ever gets a good feel for what it means to know anything in depth. It's much better to know two or more things in depth. Then the generalizations you make about deep knowledge in areas where you're not an expert will be operating on more data.

It's also common to know one thing in depth, but then fail to realize what this implies about every other field of knowledge. It's not a good thing, IMO.

Re: The Solvers' Manifesto

#13

Post by stcredzero »

NSMeta wrote: post #10

Being able to solve problems outside of your domain knowledge is a very good skill to have. Especially, in start ups. This manifesto implicitly states that you're either an expert, or a person with broad skills. Why can't one be both: an expert with broad skills ?

It's very important to be both. One needs to be aware of the breadth of knowledge. One also needs to be aware of how deep knowledge in one small area can go. Being an expert in a few things with broad familiarity in other fields is the only practical way to accomplish this.

Re: The Solvers' Manifesto

#14

Post by stcredzero »

wladimir wrote: post #4
Wolf_Larsen wrote: post #3

This is not something that anyone should aspire to. You are proud of mediocrity, desperation, and identity crisis? "We are experts in nothing, yet we know a great deal about almost anything." "But most of us are exploited, doing odd jobs for you just because we are the only ones that know how to do it." "We are not jobless, yet there is no name for what we do. And because of that, our craft hasn't earned any respect.…

Though I agree that the manifest is worded a bit negatively in a few places, being somewhat of a generalist does not mean that you're mediocre in everything, or a cheap employee. "We are experts in nothing, yet we know a great deal about almost anything." to me, seems to imply that you know a lot about a lot of things, and have developed your skills, though have not dived deep enough to be considered expert in some n…

Also: technologies come and go, which means that, if you're invested too much in a specific niche, you might find yourself "useless" some day.

Be familiar with underlying principles. Those don't go out of style.

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