Yeah, I wonder if there's an "optimal target" for the number of layers up and down you'd ideally be aware of. It has to be at least yours, and ones immediately

Yeah, I wonder if there's an "optimal target" for the number of layers up and down you'd ideally be aware of. It has to be at least yours, and ones immediately above and below, but I see innovation coming from people with unusually keen insight into layers further away--eg. people making brilliant architectural decisions because they really, really know what the consumers of an api need and how those people think about the domain. Or vice versa, someone making something radically better or faster in a web app because they really get how the linux kernal is implemented. It seems like cases where that deep knowledge is an advantage are rare but also very high value. I wonder how the EV pans out, both for individuals and orgs.