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Overspecialized teams are also a hazard. The best design solutions are usually compromises, but when the trade-off crosses into different disciplines (e.g., me

Overspecialized teams are also a hazard. The best design solutions are usually compromises, but when the trade-off crosses into different disciplines (e.g., mechanical vs electrical), it can get tricky. At minimum, you need people who can even recognize when such trades exist. It's better if you can find translators: the rare person with enough expertise in relevant domains to get to get two teams to work together efficiently. In my own career, I've often found it useful to pick up cross-discipline skills, at least enough basics to fill one of the above roles.

trinsic2 3y ago
"If we all reacted the same way, we'd be predictable, and there's always more than one way to view a situation...It's simple: overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death.” ― Motoko Kusanagi ⎯ Ghost in the Shell (1995)
aleph_minus_one 3y ago
> At minimum, you need people who can even recognize when such trades exist. It's better if you can find translators: the rare person with enough expertise in relevant domains to get to get two teams to work together efficiently. These are actually at least three (likely four or more) areas of expertise: expertise in two domains, expertise to communicate well with both sides, and the expertise to "translate" from each side to the colleagues of the other one. For example, while I do claim to have expertise in multiple areas, it - I claim exactly because of this reason - often happened in the past that both sides told me that I somehow do not speak "their" language, but what they claim to be the one of the other side. Also, I have a tendency to find "weird" connections between both areas that both sides have difficulties understanding. :-(