The generalist advantage - part one - why you had to choose

For the last 14 years I couldn’t be a generalist anymore.

You’re a developer? Great, please think about the product but don’t go overboard. You’re a product manager? Yes you’re technical but do you really know code? You’re a CPO? Sure, but do you really know the technical parts?

The real blocker was time. You could do both strategy and execution but you didn’t have time to get down in the weeds. This opened up challenges with not being able to discuss the right things. “This is the way we engineer it” became the rule that sometimes blocked progress.

The generalist approach didn’t scale. You had to choose. Strategy or execution. Vision or implementation. The bandwidth wasn’t there to do both well.

I’ve watched developers focus so much on speed optimizations and picking the best frameworks that they lose track of the bigger picture. I’ve seen product managers spend weeks crafting the optimal roadmap with detailed OKRs and PRDs. I’ve watched designers pixel-push design libraries thinking it will make things clearer for developers.

Everyone had to specialize because that’s all the time allowed for.