There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one.
- Charles Darwin
In April, we conducted a talent review, and one of the dimensions was to evaluate expansion capabilities, scored from 1 to 5:
A score of 5 means mastering skills outside of one's own role (such as R&D, design, operations) and being capable of independently completing work;
A score of 3 means understanding skills from other roles and being able to complete small module development, design, or operational design under guidance.
For our small company, this dimension is quite important:
Team members with multiple skills can step in when there’s insufficient backup for certain roles, ensuring project progress isn’t compromised.
Understanding other skills can also make communication between different positions smoother, allowing one to think and explain problems from the other party's perspective.
Similar to Wang Huiwen's previously mentioned "π-shaped talent" - when a person has knowledge in two fields, the power they generate is not just 1+1, but a 1 with a 0 added after it.
There are also many similar theories:
The lattice theory proposed by Charlie Munger. Whether investing or doing anything else, having a grasp of knowledge from multiple aspects and being able to integrate them is always beneficial. The more you know, the less your thinking will be limited, and the more critical your thinking will become.
"Chaos" also mentions the multi-project working method: "If you look at those particularly productive and original scientists, starting with Darwin, they share a common characteristic: simultaneously conducting research in several different fields."
In short, learning more is not a bad thing, and it allows us to understand the world from more perspectives.