Developers shouldn't specialize

Davey Brion wrote a post not too long ago warning developers about the dangers of specializing in a particular technology.

The real message

Davey concludes his post with the following paragraph:

"Keep your ears, your eyes and your mind open. If you notice that a group of people gets excited about something new, then figure out why. If you notice that something appears to be working well for others, then figure out why. If you notice an increasing stream of criticism on the technology you’re using, then figure out why. You’ll need information like this to make well-founded decisions about  your future."

If you are a practitioner of Lean, you are likely to find yourself trying to convince others that they should focus on one item at a time and observe the flow of work. If you are a practitioner of Scrum, you are likely to find yourself trying to convince others that they need to commit to an amount of work each iteration and observe the burn down. And if you are a practitioner of XP, you are likely to find yourself trying to convince others they need to use TDD, pair programming, and other engineering practices.

There are good ideas in each of these approaches. There are a few conflicting ideas, certainly. But there is a lot more in common than there is different. And there are valuable ideas from each that fill gaping holes in the others.

When you focus on a single approach, you not only constrict your ability to grow and learn, but worse, you cultivate a bias. When the information you receive is accepted or rejected based on how consistent it is with your current thinking, you limit your ability to make new distinctions.

I encourage you to follow Davey's advice. Pay attention to the buzz around new ideas. Rather than figure out how to tear it down and dismiss it, find what it offers that is of value. If you hear of others achieving success with other approaches, investigate and seek new ideas you can adopt. Pay attention to the frequent criticisms of your own ideas. Rather than immediately trying to defend your ideas, give legitimate consideration to why this counter-perception exists and if there is anything you can learn from it.