Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Generalists vs specialists – Who has a greater chance of success? (2019)

abhijitbhaduri.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 159 posts

Re: Generalists vs specialists – Who has a greater chance of success? (2019)

#11

Post by eyelidlessness »

irjustin wrote: post #9
planet-and-halo wrote: post #2

The best thing I ever read on this topic came from biology. In "The Diversity of Life," E.O. Wilson describes how specialist species thrive in stable environments. The stability allows them to evolve "deeply" into a niche and outcompete any species less specialized for that same niche. So if I'm really great at plucking fruit from tall trees, and you suck at it, I win. In unstable environments, however—say all of tho…

I've had a going theory on this - that it's a yoyo between generalization and specialization. A particular topic starts with generalists but as time progresses and stability (i.e. a path worth pursuing) becomes apparent, specialization is needed to eek out more performance gains. Then after a while, that particular area gets disrupted because there's a fundamental shift in landscape and the cycle repeats because the…

Pardon me for a bad (and generalist) habit. I’m not correcting your spelling for any reason other than to give you a free Scrabble tip: it’s eke.

And yep, you’re spot on.

Re: Generalists vs specialists – Who has a greater chance of success? (2019)

#12

Post by runawaybottle »

Specialization only matters if the specialization is valued for top quality. A diner can make me a good enough burger, but there are places I’ll go to for a top quality burger.

In software development, business mostly wants good enough. The bulk of the products being developed don’t value top quality, so it’s becoming increasingly pointless to invest into a specialty.

Things can change of course.

Re: Generalists vs specialists – Who has a greater chance of success? (2019)

#13

Post by mizzao »

planet-and-halo wrote: post #2

The best thing I ever read on this topic came from biology. In "The Diversity of Life," E.O. Wilson describes how specialist species thrive in stable environments. The stability allows them to evolve "deeply" into a niche and outcompete any species less specialized for that same niche. So if I'm really great at plucking fruit from tall trees, and you suck at it, I win. In unstable environments, however—say all of tho…

By that argument...the faster the world is changing, the bigger of an advantage generalists have. There's even a book about it: https://www.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized...

Re: Generalists vs specialists – Who has a greater chance of success? (2019)

#14

Post by pgrddy »

The world problems however needs all the specialists and generalists. And instead of taking generalists too far, a specialist with minimum knowledge and experience in few other contrasting domains is good enough for him to get creative, draw analogies and solve problems.

Re: Generalists vs specialists – Who has a greater chance of success? (2019)

#15

Post by jiriknesl »

I doubt, there's such a thing as a real generalist, that knows SW development, negotiation, history of Italy, international politics, engine design, ... to the same level of depth.

When we speak about successful generalists, they are still quite specialized. They might know some data analysis (maybe limited by Excel and VB macros), some teamwork skills, some marketing/sales/product ownership knowledge, some competitive intelligence, some understanding of work laws and how to form a company.

Such a person would be considered a generalist, but as I see it, such a person still ignores 99% of fields of study.

Re: Generalists vs specialists – Who has a greater chance of success? (2019)

#17

Post by jbluepolarbear »

Snoozle wrote: post #3

I always feel like these types of posts are too kind to generalists. Maybe that's just because I am one and I am falling for the greener grass. It's true I've done well in my career, but I've never felt particularly competent. I can do a half assed job as a manager, developer, product owner, and salesman, but I am not any better at those tasks than someone who specializes in doing those things. I could argue that I h…

I guess it’s perspective, I’m a career long generalist and I feel confident that I can be put on any team and preform at or better than the average specialist in the same position. I’ve backed this up with every position I’ve had and have built a network of people that know and trust when I say I can do something. I think that’s more important than any specialist because if I don’t know an answer or how to solve something I will study and learn the material until I do.

Re: Generalists vs specialists – Who has a greater chance of success? (2019)

#18

Post by miemo23 »

irjustin wrote: post #9
planet-and-halo wrote: post #2

The best thing I ever read on this topic came from biology. In "The Diversity of Life," E.O. Wilson describes how specialist species thrive in stable environments. The stability allows them to evolve "deeply" into a niche and outcompete any species less specialized for that same niche. So if I'm really great at plucking fruit from tall trees, and you suck at it, I win. In unstable environments, however—say all of tho…

I've had a going theory on this - that it's a yoyo between generalization and specialization. A particular topic starts with generalists but as time progresses and stability (i.e. a path worth pursuing) becomes apparent, specialization is needed to eek out more performance gains. Then after a while, that particular area gets disrupted because there's a fundamental shift in landscape and the cycle repeats because the…

This is touched on in "Beyond the 80/20 principle".

Much like your example, though I think it said specialisation itself can offer up new generalist opportunities, so internal forces as well as external shifts.

One of my favourite books of late.

Re: Generalists vs specialists – Who has a greater chance of success? (2019)

#19

Post by miemo23 »

mizzao wrote: post #13
planet-and-halo wrote: post #2

The best thing I ever read on this topic came from biology. In "The Diversity of Life," E.O. Wilson describes how specialist species thrive in stable environments. The stability allows them to evolve "deeply" into a niche and outcompete any species less specialized for that same niche. So if I'm really great at plucking fruit from tall trees, and you suck at it, I win. In unstable environments, however—say all of tho…

By that argument...the faster the world is changing, the bigger of an advantage generalists have. There's even a book about it: https://www.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized...

Would you believe, this article is a review of that very book ;)
Post reply on HN