Hi. Today we are going to talk about another interesting topic, which so many of my students
have asked me about. So the topic for today is, what is the difference between an I-shaped
employee or a T-shaped employee, and what are generalized specialists? So confusing terms,
right? I-shaped, T-shaped. Hmm. Let's do a deep dive into it. And before we move forward,
if you are here for the first time, and do not know me, I am Nidhi Kohli. I am the lead analyst
with EduHubSpot, and I drive all the trainings for all agile certifications, including PMIACP. And at
the end we will also do a multiple choice question to help you with your PMIACP exam preparation.
So here we are, so you would've heard about I-shaped employee or T-shaped employee,
what is it really? And what are the skills and how are they valued and what is the need? So I,
as in the capital letter I, if you see it goes as a straight line, right? So straight line means you
have an in-depth knowledge or in-depth, expertise in one particular area. It could be more than one
of course, but for this conversation we will restrict to one. Okay. So an I-shaped employee
would be someone with in-depth expertise or lot of expertise and competency in a particular area
and subject matter expert. So whosoever needs any guidance or any information, they reach out
to them, they want some suggestions, they reach out to them and they are very valued employees
in any organization, right? You would need experts in your company to be able to deliver
your projects well, but an I-shaped employee can only contribute in that area, just like
the capital letter I, they are very good at what they are doing, but if you look at other aspects,
they may not be very well versed with them. And today it is a dynamic world, right? There
are a lot of things, nothing is straightforward. I would say lot of interdependencies are there,
a lot of interactions out there and anyone would need to know these intricacies in other areas to
be able to do their job well, right? So that is why the concept of T-shaped employee came;
capital letter T. In-depth knowledge in your expertise area and
some breadth of knowledge in other areas so that you can see the holistic picture. Of course,
in the adjacent scent areas, I am talking about not completely different, but you can understand
the intricacy. You can understand what are the cross dependencies or interactions which you need
to take care of. And your solutions will be much, much better if you become a T-shaped employee.
So definitely, organizations are going to value these employees more.
You know, we had heard about generalists, we have heard about specialists and there is a word
called generalized specialist. You would have heard if you are preparing for PMI ACP or PMP,
you would've heard about this word a lot. Okay. So these generalized specialists are really
the T-shaped employees who are specialists in a particular area,
have generalized knowledge or in a wide breadth of areas that they can cover. And
best is if required, If the project demands them to contribute in other
areas, they are very willing to do that. Sometimes when that complacency kicks in,
Sometimes when you are very good at one particular area, you do not want to move around. You know,
you have your hold there. Those are unknown waters that you don't want to trench. And
it happens with everybody, not just with one. Everybody, I'm comfortable here, I don't want
to do there. But no, Generalized specialists are the ones who are willing to test those waters,
who are willing to contribute in other areas if there is a need. Because why? Why think about it.
Because it is the project that is more important. It is the work that is more important and we are
here to do effectively the work that needs to be done, to make our projects successful,
to make our organization successful. And that's what is a generalized specialist.
Let's take an example. Now you have a developer in your team and this developer is very good at
his coding skills, very valued employee, but the developer has no exposure in any other areas.
Whereas you have another developer in your team who is not just excellent in what she is doing,
but also has the capabilities or the skills to do the testing or she can do the design activities.
She's very excellent in requirement gathering with the customers and interaction with customers. User
acceptance testing. So which one would you prefer? Remember both of them have niche skills in the
areas of their competencies. One has additional some breadth of knowledge in other areas. If I
am the manager or the scrum master, I would rather go for her, who has the breadth of that knowledge
as well. Isn't that so? You would like to do that and it's the time for the question now,
but before we go to the question, if you like this video, please hit like or subscribe button
you have any questions for me. Feel free to drop me an email at nidhi.kohli@edhubspot.com. I reply
to each and every email that I get. So do not worry, you are in the safe hands. And in case
you want me to cover another topic, which where you are confused with what it is, please write
it in the comments section. I will add it to my videos backlog and I will get to it for sure.
Okay, let's get to The question now. During a project execution,
the scrum team realizes that they need some more expertise in a particular area.
What should be the team's next steps? Option A, find alternate ways to execute
the project where you don't need that skill, where that expertise is not needed.
Option B, add resources to the team with the required skill set.
Option C, train the members needing that expertise using in-house experts and
option D, arrange for an External training for the members that will work on that area.
Now you can pause the video here, think about your answer and write it in the chat window.
Let us talk about what is the right answer. So we will use the elimination technique. First
and foremost, which one you will eliminate first. Of course, option A, definitely you need that
skill. You don't have that expertise. Would you just find alternate ways to execute the project?
No, right. See, we are an agile team. We need to enhance our skillset. We believe in ourselves,
we love our technical excellence. So we want to always encourage the entire team and not just
the entire team, including everybody, including myself also. So we want to enhance our skills and
competencies. We want to have that continuous learning in place. So definitely because we
don't know something, we are going to find alternate ways. That's a No. Option B also
will get eliminated. Adding resources to the team with a required skill. Again, you are just saying
you need a new skill, but you will just add a new person. You are not encouraging learning here. So
this option is also wrong. Okay? Option C and option D both talk about training the resource.
Now it is a more a question about whether you want to train using in-house experts or an external.
Now, if that is the scenario, you must always think if you have an in-house expertise in place,
you should utilize that. It is a win-win situation for all.
External training definitely can be done, but by having an in-house expertise,
you are encouraging them also. You are utilizing that expertise and you are
saving budget on the project also, right? So option D is wrong and option C is correct.
I hope you enjoyed the doing the question. If yes, do write it in the comment section and hit like or
subscribe button. Again, we are here to support you in your PMI ACP exam preparation journey.
Feel free to reach out to us. There are lot of resources on our website. Feel free to explore,
write an email to me and I will be there to answer you. Thank you. Happy studying.