Live data from Hacker News

What Is a Wildcard Person?

wildcardpeople.com

11–20 of 278 posts

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#11
As a wildcard person, one thing not mentioned is they need to be complemented by at least one type A, no-nonsense delivery manager who can block their say-yes-to-everything attitude, help them prioritize and focus, and ensure the "boring stuff" like test suites and status reports are flowing.

Together this tandem can do truly great things.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#12

Isn't this the jack of all trades?

Yes, I think the article's goal is to rebrand the jack in a more positive light. "jack of all trades" takes on a generally negative connotation when you recall the rest of the phrase "...master of none".

Personally, I think one can become a master of a few things and a jack of many if one taps into the marvelous power of analogy and free association. It's literally a super power of the human brain that few people utilize. We're not meant to think linearly in most cases. Linear thinking is a necessary evil when solving already prescribed and well understood problem and a prison and barrier in all other cases.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#15
This is targeted at a would-be wildcard manager, but for those of you who identify this way, how do you describe this skillset? I’m a combination product manager, data engineer, strategy consultant, and UX/UI designer. While everyone I’ve ever worked with sees that I really am capable across those roles in time, it’s been challenging to convey the breadth of expertise to a hiring manager, without seeming quite arrogant (Mr. “I can do anything”).

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#17
Top Gun (1986) already defined "wild card" people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyUc3u9cR2Q&t=2m4s

Rule-breakers, unpredictable, mess up, you don't know whether you'd want to go into battle with them.

Hopefully, you get a Hollywood ending, in which they turn out to be 10x performers who save the day.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#18

“What is a person with somewhat varied skills??” I scream as I smash my debit card number into my keyboard to buy a domain for this concept that I’ve just invented. I smile slyly at my partner, a meth pipe.

It's all relative. I'm the only person in any startup I've worked at to work on tasks spanning 5-6 knowledge domains. Most people seem to stick to one thing, maybe two. CEOs know a little about a lot of things too, but they're not actually fighting the fires most of the time, e.g. fixing that bug, writing copy, answering the SOC2 audit questions, etc.

Re: What Is a Wildcard Person?

#20
Great article, reminds me of someone I know.

One quibble,

> If your Wildcard is a Product Manager, their team will ship feature-complete products on time, but without the neatly organized armada of JIRA tickets or burn-down charts you wished to see. The friction of keeping things organized is less stimulating than the instant feedback of just doing the work.

“Just doing the work” is the point. The fact that the work can be finished without JIRA tickets and burn down charts is because those things are stupid ways to manage product development, not because Wildcards get shit done.

The problem with JIRA in particular is that it encourages a focus on tasks rather than goals, and so the tasks become the goals.

Post reply on HN