Be like Tim, be ‘T-shaped’
The old saying, “Jack of all trades, master of none” has a bit of a ring to it. We generally use this as a disparaging remark about a colleague or about ourselves in a self-effacing way. Sometimes being able to do a little bit of everything is positive in a manager, but ultimately you do need to ‘hang your hat’ on and area of the business. People that can do this are T-shaped.
A T-shaped employee, is an individual that has deep knowledge and skills in a particular area of specialisation, along with and the desire and ability to make connections across disciplines. The horizontal bar of the T symbolises a breadth of general knowledge, soft skills and business acumen, while the vertical stem of the T symbolises technical depth. Essentially, a T-shaped individual is both a niche-topic specialist and a generalist with people and business skills.
the T shaped employee
Today in information technology, T-shaped employees are in great demand because of an increasing convergence of technologies and changes in software development and delivery models. For some software development jobs, such as those that involve DevOps for example, the ability to work in a multidisciplinary team is essential. This contrasts with the I-shaped skills model that information technology departments valued in the past — one in which an employee’s depth of knowledge in one niche area of IT was valued above all else.
One approach to ensuring that a company has employees with the required knowledge and skills for success is to encourage projects that break down silo walls and create an organisational culture that nurtures soft skill development. In such a working environment, employees will naturally gain general knowledge and develop people skills as they continue to build the in-depth knowledge required to support the company’s business goals.
The term T-shaped employee was popularised by Tim Brown, the CEO of the IDEO, a California design firm known for its collaborative and innovative workplace practices.
Post by Pete Wilson
Pete has worked in the technology and business change space for over 30 years. He's worked globally for large public sector and governmental bodies and for large private sector multinationals across numerous industry sectors.
great issues altogether, you simply received a new reader.
What might you suggest in regards to your publish that you
made a few days in the past? Any certain?
Great blog! Do you have any hints for aspiring writers? I’m
planning to start my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on everything.
Would you propose starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that
I’m totally confused .. Any ideas? Bless you!
I believe this is one of the such a lot vital info
for me. And i’m happy reading your article. But
wanna remark on few common things, The web site taste is wonderful, the articles is really
nice : D. Excellent process, cheers
Hello! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok.
I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.
I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the structure of your website?
Its very well written; I love what youve got to
say. But maybe you could a little more in the way
of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only
having 1 or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out
better?
wonderful points altogether, you just gained a brand new reader.
What could you suggest about your put up that you simply made some days ago?
Any certain?
Link exchange is nothing else except it is only placing the other
person’s weblog link on your page at proper place and other person will also do similar for you.
Hi there everyone, it’s my first pay a quick visit at this web page, and
post is really fruitful in favor of me, keep up posting such posts.