Programmers Blog

Do Specialists Outperform Generalists on an Agile Team?

There is a general consensus in the Agile community on the relevance of cross functional teams and the idea of having generalists and specialists on the team. Dave Gray, in an interesting diagram on his blog, tries to show the relationship between a generalist and a specialist. According to Dave, a generalist has a basic understanding across many disciplines. Generalist may not have a specific skill required to solve the problem, however, he is very good in defining the problem. A specialist on the other hand is a person who has a deep understanding of a specific discipline. He is best used when solving a problem or executing a plan. According to Dave both are required in a project for the successful execution of the project.

Read More:

http://www.infoq.com/news/2008/06/agile-generalist-specialist 

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