This Focused Performance Weblog is a "business management blog" containing links and commentary related primarily to organizational effectiveness with a "Theory of Constraints" perspective. TOC is noted for its applications in Project Management and Multi-Project Management (Critical Chain) and Operations Management (Drum-Buffer-Rope), as well as in Marketing, Strategic Planning and Change Management (TOC Thinking Processes). If you are on an archive page, current postings are found here.
Steve hits the nail on the head about the roles of specialists and generalists.
1. Generalists and specialists need each other... 3. Projects grow exactly because of the combination of generalists and specialists... 4. Many people are generalists and specialists at the same time...
No problem is an island. (It's a peninsula.) Every problem lies within the domain of a larger system. While specialists are needed to solve the detailed technical aspects of a problem, generalists are necessary for keeping the big picture in mind, and watching over the possible systemic implications of the specialists' solutions, or at least knowing which other specialists to check with.
Generalists are the keepers and askers of the necessary "informed dumb questions" that can be too easily overlooked and unasked when buried in the guts of a problem.
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