Specialists should become more

Thursday, 24 December 2009

Specialists should become more

Posted by Simon Baker

In my ideal team anyone can do anything. Sadly it’s just not realistic. Some skills are just too specialized. That said, if you need the specialized skills get a specialist in the team and avoid sharing some centralized service. Don’t worry if the specialist is not utilized 100%. That’s a good thing! If he has the right attitude he will muck in, contribute in other areas you did not anticipate, and he should use the opportunity to acquire complementary and even new skills by working with and learning from the rest of the team. And of course, it goes without saying that he should be helping others acquire a level of competence in his specialized skill set to build resilience into the team.

If you'd like to mention it on your blog here's the permalink

3 Comments

fsdfsdf

Comment by Simon Baker

Sometimes you need specialists who are detached. Once they're enveloped in a team they lose they're objectivity and they're usefulness.

Comment by Anonymous

@Anonymous Poster - Do you have a concrete example in mind that might help? In my experience, anyone who is detached and does not have "skin in the game" tends to damage rather than help the team.

Comment by blog

AGILE IN ACTION

Thursday, 24 December 2009